OCAP Gets More Tangible
By Leslie Ellis -- Multichannel News, 5/13/2007 8:00:00 PM
Las Vegas — Las Vegas— The technical specification known as “OCAP” — for “OpenCable Applications Platform” — shape-shifted into a more tangible realm last week, as developers gathered for the first time to see how and when they can build interactive services for cable operators and program networks.
Among the takeaways: “Bound” applications, meaning those that correlate with a specific television program, are probably the sweet spot for developers. “Unbound” applications, like those that are invoked by a particular button on the remote (“menu,” “guide”) and have nothing to do with what's on the screen, are harder, because they tend to entwine with back-office systems.
'STICKY' FEATURES WANED
Finding ways to cross-link existing services (video, voice, broadband data), to improve “stickiness,” is what cable providers want; finding ways to engage people with specific shows is what program networks want. (As a point of reference, an experiment last year between Bravo and Time Warner Cable to let viewers vote on who got the boot from Top Chef garnered a 30% response rate.)
A quick review: OCAP, one of the more awkward of the spoken cable acronyms, is a way for a software developer to make a product that works “on cable” — meaning, not for Comcast in one iteration, and for Time Warner in another.
It has several subsets, which came up repeatedly during the day-and-a-half OCAP Developer's Conference, hosted by CableLabs and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association on the front end of last week's The Cable Show. (The room was generally packed, with standing room only during some sessions; more than 300 attended.)
One subset is “ETV,” or “Enhanced Television,” which targets older and underpowered (relative to advanced boxes) set-tops. Another is Cox's “OnRamp to OCAP,” which also targets legacy devices. Both variants can accomplish unbound applications, but are more focused on bound, or “cooperative,” services
As for timing: Comcast is saying “80% by '08,” meaning that 80% of its footprint will be OCAP-capable by the end of next year. Time Warner is already taking delivery on OCAP-style boxes. Cox is gearing up for five market trials by the end of this year, and national support by the middle of '08.
Many of those decisions relate to the brand of boxes operators plan to install. Time Warner, which operates a footprint that is 70% Scientific-Atlanta and 30% Motorola, said during the conference that the latter manufacturer is “a little late” — trial stage by the end of this year. Comcast, by contrast, is 70% Motorola; Cox's footprint is a 50-50 mix of both providers.
This matters because the point of OCAP is to remove those constraints for developers, so that they no longer have to worry about how to make code that works on this or that hardware environment.
NEW LINGO
New technologies always seem to create new lingo, and one such term came up last week: “Squeezeback,” which describes what happens to the video on the TV screen when an interactive application begins. It usually comes up in the context of “should I do a squeezeback, or an overlay?”
Also new: the notion of “destination advertising,” where viewers are led (by an interactive trigger) to a specific place — like a longer ad stored on a VOD server — to learn more about a product of interest.
Cable executives at the meeting urged developers to recognize that the applications they pitch need to be re-pitched internally, before a go/no-go decision is made. Translation: Help operators to “sell” the idea internally, by justifying the business case.
They also sounded the long-running plea for simplicity.
“The more interesting you think you're making it, by adding features, chances are you're making it more confusing for the consumer,” noted Gerard Kunkel, president for GuideWorks.
What happens now? A multi-multiple-system-operator test of ETV-based applications is planned by CableLabs for this fall, and developers were urged to participate. On the tactical front, operators will continue to ready their headends and spec their set-tops for OCAP.
With the shouted caveat that as soon as you say “the year of” anything, it slips – it's nonetheless looking like next summer when the fruits of OCAP and ETV start becoming noticeable in consumer homes.
Stumped by gibberish? Visit Leslie Ellis atwww.translation-please.com.
No related content found.
VIEW ALL GALLERIES
