ComptelPLUS Fall15 Show Daily Day 1

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COMPTELPlus | Monday, October 19, 2015 Beka Publishing, 8
OTT, Cord-Cutting and 4K
It’s a Brave NewWorld for Video Delivery
COMPTEL PLUS Fall 2015 Business Expo
DAY 1
The day is approaching when over-the-top
(OTT) consumption becomes the majority
of TV and video viewing. But the evolu-
tion to a new video marketplace won’t happen
without transformations in both service provider
and home networking — dramatically changing
the way broadcasters, media companies and
brands operate. And in turn, the burgeoning
interest by consumers in on-demand streaming
video is putting an enormous strain on networks,
which are struggling to cope with the growing
demands on bandwidth.
On Tuesday, a keynote panel will examine “The
Disruptive Impact of Technology on Traditional
Video Delivery.” Panelists from Google, NTCA, ITTA
and Public Knowledge will discuss key issues facing
last-mile providers in the era of OTT services, such
as those offered by Amazon, Netflix and Hulu; Ultra
HD 4K content and cord-cutting. Topics ranging
from the future of linear TV content, to content
delivery networks (CDNs), to challenges in content
distribution agreements will be on the table. Along
with, of course, questions as to what this means for
network investment.
OTT and Cord-Cutting:
On the Rise
There’s no doubt that the traditional pay TV
model is changing. A full 10 percent of U.S. broad-
band households are now cord-cutters, according
to Parks Associates.
The research found that a quarter of these
have cancelled their pay TV service in the past 12
months, and are instead using online video sources.
In addition, 7 percent of U.S. broadband house-
holds are recent cord-shavers - those who have
downgraded their pay TV service within the past 12
months and use online video sources. Cord-nevers,
or consumers who have never subscribed to a pay
TV service, but do use online video sources, repre-
sent 3 percent of broadband households.
“Although pay TV adoption rates have held
fairly steady over the past four years, the video
industry is highly sensitive to these groups of
consumers,” said Brett Sappington, director
of research at Parks Associates. “Cord-cutters,
-shavers, and -nevers represent both the risk and
opportunity facing the industry today. As viewing
evolves, companies want to be sure that they are
in a position to react to trends and adequately
capture revenues. The massive influx of new OTT
video services in 2015 is one example of video
market players making moves to prepare for the
new future of video entertainment.”
Video-Friendly Networks
More and more triple-play and ISP operators are
looking to launch their own OTT video offerings
to compete with the likes of Netflix and hang onto
their TV dominance, allowing a lack of bandwidth
to contribute to a poor quality of experience for
the end user is out of the question. And as a result,
operators are continuously trying to forecast and
manage bandwidth requirements for the next-
generation digital home.
A report from Rethink Research, and spon-
sored by MoCA, found that a home with three TVs
(common in the U.S., though not necessarily in all
other countries), each with 4K Ultra HD capability
(the next generation of television technology), plus
three additional video streams on smaller screens,
will have a minimum requirements of 85Mbps.
The minimum requirement for a home network in
this scenario is three Ultra HD streams at 25Mbps
each, three portable device streams 2.5Mbps each,
with the additional 5Mbps for “other” activity (think
smart home services and the Internet of Things)
— together this represents a “peak” home environ-
ment for Internet traffic.
In other words, operators should target
171Mbps per home for the Ultra HD age.
So perhaps it’s no surprise that on the operator
front, 1Gbps services to the home have become the
new frontier of competition for triple-play providers
looking to differentiate by providing the best expe-
rience for subscribers (for more on this, see our
“Future of Fiber” panel preview, page 10).
Home Networks Implications
Taking advantage of all that speed requires
that the network inside the home is up to the task.
But today, there is no Wi-Fi router that’s capable of
supporting 1Gbps throughput.
“More andmore people are choosing to opt out
of traditional broadcast TV in favor of all-IP services,”
HomeGrid Forumpresident DonnaYasay said, speaking
at a recent event.“And they generally no longer have
just one entertainment point or Internet outlet in the
home – it’smore likely to be one in every room.”
This, combined with the fact that there are more
and more devices that provide streaming video,
such as connected TVs and streaming media devices,
game consoles and set-top boxes, is leading to a
golden moment for technologies like HomePlug.
“Your in-home network [must be] up to the task
of handling so much bandwidth and dispersing
content to all four corners of your home,”Yasay
said. “And of course, if you live in a dense residen-
tial environment, such as an apartment block, you
need to know that the network can handle the
close proximity of other networks, something wire-
less often struggles with.”
Yasay argues that the quality of experience these
services require and the bandwidth block that can
arise with so much going on in one small space, can
only be handled in multi-room, multi-device homes
and multi-dwelling units (MDUs) by mixing and
matching the wireless and wireline networking to
fit individual consumer’s or family’s needs.
“What makes most sense is to take the best of all
the networking technologies and combine them,”
Yasay said.“Wireline technologies of any description,
running at Gigabit speeds around the home with
make a robust, reliable backbone, connecting static
devices such as TVs, smart meters, desktops, whilst
access to the Internet from individual mobile devices
can piggyback withWi-Fi onto the network.” o
Keynote Panel - The Disruptive Impact of Technology
on Traditional Video Delivery
Tuesday October 20, 9 – 10 a.m.
Location: Golden Gate Ballroom
Moderator:
Markham Erickson, Partner, Steptoe & Johnson
Panelists:
Milo Medin, Vice President, Access Services, Google
Jill Canfield, Vice President of Legal and Industry, Assistant General Counsel,
NTCA
Genny Morelli, President, ITTA
John Bergmayer, Senior Staff Attorney, Public Knowledge
By Tara Seals