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In this on-line publication, we share our analysis, opinions and direction on the interactive television news and views that we believe will be of interest and use to our friends associated directly or indirectly with independent telephone companies. For more information as to the various ways Viodi works with independent telephone companies, please go to http://www.viodi.com/alliance/
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Viodi View Newsletter - February 28th, 2007
Click here to learn about Viodi's Local Content Workshops
By Ken Pyle, ken.pyle at viodi.com, Managing Editor, Viodi View
The term digital divide is somewhat trite, but the problem still exists. According to Parks Associates , at least 45% of the U.S. residential households will not have broadband in 2007. This hit home a few weeks ago, when I found that a family on my son’s Tee-Ball team does not have broadband or narrowband Internet access. In 2007, it is a bit painful to communicate with someone who is off net. This personal example prompted me to think about Universal Service and its relationship to other government programs. Read more in the Korner.
ViodiTV @ NTCA
There is a great example of a group of people who formed a cooperative to bring telecommunications services and broadband to their underserved community. We will bring the video of interview with one of their founders in the next issue.
In the meantime, check out this interview with Allen Hoopes, President of Silver Star Communications. Silver Star has been bringing broadband, video and telephony to remote parts of Wyoming. Hoopes talks about the challenge of culture as an impediment to the deployment of new technologies, especially IPTV. Click here to view
ACE Promotes Industry Standards
One of the big challenges for IPTV Deployments has been standards. Standards have always been important to the Rural Utility Service, which provides various forms of financing for rural telecom. ACE, the Association of Communications Engineers, together with OPASTCO and NTCA are supporting RUS in their efforts to update their standards. Check out this video with Charlie Watts for more detail.
IPTV Standards – Is It Too Late?
An interesting quote from Verizon’s Marilyn O’Connell, Sr. VP of Video Solutions, in which she suggested that it may be too late for telcos to put together standards and interoperability for IPTV. From the January 29th issue of the Multichannel News:
“It may be too late for an “IPTV Labs” she added. Even though telcos work together on setting technical standards in a number of forums, their approaches in assembling a TV service have been divergent. “Until somebody determines a very standard path, you have vendors working on a one-off solution, and then it’s hard for them to generate revenue from that solution,” O’Connell said.
Of course, Verizon has taken a hybrid RF-IPTV approach, which is migrating towards an OCAP based solution.
Meanwhile 6,000 Miles Away - An Open Standards Approach to Broadband
Jari Aho of ACREO, a group that provides a test bed for various technologies associated with broadband, reports the results of their latest meeting. The PDF he provided reminds me of the Open Video System alternative that never really took off in the U.S; an approach, whereby the last mile is pretty much a common carrier provisioned by multiple service providers.
Northport AB is delivering, in conjunction with Motorola (Set-top), Latens (security) and Tandberg (headend), an IPTV solution to Salten Bredband, which serves 3,000 customers north of the Arctic Circle . A bit of an ecosystem is building up around this solution, as Northport AB has just integrated with a Swedish company, System Magic, which provides IPTV applications, like chat, email and games. Salten Bredband, owned by a group of energy companies, is replacing their current operating system with the Northport AB solution
Searching for a Better Way to Find What’s On TV
One of the things when I learned years ago at DemandVideo is that the content owners – the big studios especially – want to be able to establish their own brands and relationships with the customers (whether the brands mean as much as the actual product is another question). One significant thing about Seachange’s announcement last week of their latest patent is that they have developed a way for brands to create their own portal with a television user interface, as shown in this screen shot.
Image Courtesy of SeaChange International
The other significant thing about their patent is that makes television search contextual and weaves together on-demand and linear broadcast into common areas of interest. The idea is to help filter the thousands of hours of content into what is relevant to the individual consumer.
Optical Entertainment Networks made a big splash a few years ago when they announced an aggressive plan to deploy Fiber to the Home throughout the Houston metro area. OEN President and CEO, Al Estrada, an early veteran of DirecTV, discusses OEN’s strategy for rolling out service in this exclusive audio interview. He talks of their beta tests and some of the things they learned and have incorporated into their commercial launch, such as data packages that offer up to 25 Mb/s downstream. Click here to read more and listen in to this interview.
Telecom@NAB2007 Broadband Video Conference Monday, April 16: 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM As telecom companies deploy video, the best place in the world to learn about video production and distribution is the annual NAB Convention. NAB is NOW the essential destination for any service provider deploying digital video services. Just ask telecom's competitors, the cable and satellite industries . . . they have been attending NAB for years. NAB2007 is by far the largest gathering of electronic media executives, trendsetters and visionaries anywhere, anytime. Telecom carriers need video technology to complete and the established destination for video is NAB2007. To view the complete agenda for the Broadband Video Conference, please click here. For more information on the other conferences taking place under the Telecom@NAB2007 umbrella, please visit http://nabshow.com/telecom.php |
This full-day conference uses real-world experiences shared by carriers, case studies from experts, and shoot-outs by technology suppliers and content providers to explain how to successfully compete against cable. Telecom service providers will leave with a better understanding of what they need to know about advanced video distribution over next generation networks. Topics discussed include:
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Cautionary Warning – Telecom Means Telecom
The FCC ruled against North Pittsburg Telephone Company in favor of Fiber Technologies in an order released on February 23rd. The takeaway from this ruling is that incumbents have to offer access to their poles to competing telecom carriers, as defined by a State’s Public Utility Commission, on a non-discriminatory basis.
Opportunity to Weigh In on Vertical Integration of Programming
The FCC is seeking comment on, “the Sunset of Program Access Exclusive Contract Prohibition.” This is an important issue for any operator, especially small operators, which obtain programming from content owners that are owned by cable operators. Steve Pastorkovich is coordinating response for OPASTCO members and it is important to contact him if you have an opinion on this important topic SFP at opastco.org.
IEEE ComSoc Feb 21, 2007 meeting on Metro-Scale Mesh Networks
Alan Weissberger, Program Chairman of the IEEE ComSoc SCV chapter, reports on their February 21 st, 2007 meeting on Metro Scale Mesh Networks. Narasimha Chari, Tropos Networks' Chief Architect and Co-Founder, provided some very keen insights into the current architecture of WiFi mesh networks for the metropolitan area. Mr. Chari also shared his insights as to what the future might hold for metro wireless networks, including the role that WiMAX might play– both for backhaul and, also, for a pico-cell coverage scenario that might replace the WiFi mesh router based sub-network. As a follow-up to the meeting, Weissberger and Chari provide additional information on the tradeoffs and potential advantages of WiMAX pico-cells, when compared to the more publiced and promoted Macro Cell approach Click here to read this article..
S2 Data’s IPTV 2007 – A Global View of IPTV from Silicon Valley
The first day of S2 Data’s IPTV 2007 conference provided a global view of the IPTV market. The audience and the speakers consisted of an interesting mix of chip level companies, along with system integrators. There were some representatives from independent telcos, as well as at least one of their Engineering firms, and some international telcos. Details about this unique conference will appear in the next issue of the Viodi View.
I was in a meeting the other day when I learned that Viodi friend, Liz Davidov, VP Marketing for C-Cor, is among CableWorld’s Most Powerful Women for 2006: Top Women in Cable. Other Viodi View friends and readers who were named to this exclusive list include Cathy Hetzel of Rentrak (click here to see our interview with her), Rebecca Lim of Starz, Tara Maitra of TiVo and Merdith Flynn-Ripley of Integra5 Communications. Congratulations to all!
Thanks to Michael Mallinger of OPASTCO for his editing and contribution to my article published in the OPASTCO advocate last month. He really improved my initial pass.
Here are some of the articles that have been posted to Club Viodi over the past few weeks. Club Viodi is exclusively available to independent telcos.
The Korner – Will We Ever Get an Answer on Universal Broadband?
There seems to be universal agreement that a robust broadband infrastructure will help to better educate our children, make for a more informed citizenry and ensure competitiveness in the worldwide marketplace. I submit that broadband Internet and a way of using the broadband (some device) are necessary to ensure equality of opportunity for all of our citizens.
So, as the debate about universal telecommunications service gets into gear with this new Congress, let us hope for a bipartisan solution that encompasses the big picture and looks beyond telecom to create a universal broadband solution. I have not finished formulating my thoughts on the topic of universal broadband, but some questions that need exploring include:
- What should the role of the U.S. Postal Service be in broadband?
- How are broadband and education (K-12, College & Continuing) synergistic?
- What role could broadband have in reducing our energy consumption?
- What is a better investment in subsidies; over-the-air television or broadband?
Now for something totally off-topic, a mini-concert review of a band that is always asking a Question.
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The Video Business Case for Independent Telcos – The Report
Viodi’s report, Video Business Case provides results to a survey of independent telcos and their business case for video. Most of the telcos that responded to the survey have figured out a way to deploy video services. This survey provides insight from the independent telcos as well as several of their Engineering firms.
