The Ott Gateway – Pay Tvs Killer Or Savior?

By Author: Abraham Brown
Total Articles: 6
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A clunky wooden box, maybe half a meter deep and easily a meter wide, sits on the floor in a family’s living room. A screen in the front of the box displays an image fed through a wire connected to an aluminum antenna on the roof, which receives the signal which has been converted to image and sound. If the viewer wants to watch something else, he has to get up and manually change the channel. This box is known as a “television,” an archaic device that once was necessary in order to watch television content. But those days are long gone. Televisions are vanishing from homes, replaced by much easier to access systems. More and more people watch television content on computers, smart phones, and the like. One of the most exciting ways this is possible is through an Over The Top (OTT) Gateway. An OTT Gateway delivers television content over the internet directly from the provider to the viewer, utilizing an open internet and broadband connection. This open connection is independent of the viewer’s Internet Service Provider (ISP) which eliminates the need for any infrastructure investment on the part of the provider.
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... With video on demand (VOD), reruns of previously broadcast TV shows, and interactive applications, OTT allows operators to generate revenue in new ways. Traditional TV distributors, who are already well-known to and trusted by consumers, have the most obvious opportunity for revenue. They can simply market their established brands by integrating online and traditional TV through a single device or by repackaging these brands for multiple established devices.
Because of its openness and its perceived ability to bypass the networks owned and operated by payTV providers, OTT is sometimes described as a potential ‘killer’ for the payTV industry. We believe that this is a naïve viewpoint. The rights to quality video content are expensive, and such content simply will not be created unless revenue can be generated from it. At present, the content industry is supported by subscription TV – and its delivery medium is the set-top box or residential gateway.
Pace clients such as DirectTV, Canal+ and Viasat all offer OTT content that can be accessed via one of our set-top boxes. The appeal of OTT is that it augments the traditional viewing experience by allowing the user to access internet-based content without having to leave their TV.
In September 2010, we demonstrated the Pace App Café, a unique service allowing payTV operators to harness the potential of online applications within an integrated managed TV service. The App Café offers hundreds of applications in a ‘storefront’ format for subscribers to download directly to their set-top box, giving them access to social networking applications, web-based video portals, internet radio, online photo services and much more.
OTT gateway will continue to play an important role in allowing consumers to access their paid-for services in the way they want, adding value to payTV subscriptions. Ultimately, we believe consumers will enjoy content ‘any time, any place’ through a range of devices including mobile phones, iPads, games consoles or connected TVs, all connected to a central content gateway.