Making Over-the-Top Video Seamless

For cable operators eyeing over-the-top video, the last thing they want to do is fumble through a patchwork of solutions to deliver this emerging and in-demand video content to consumers.

No doubt cable operators are expanding services to include access to volumes of over-the-top programming, or outside Internet video content delivered via an operator’s broadband infrastructure. They certainly already occupy the inside track to do so. Sending that content throughout the home-networking environment, from additional television sets and set-top boxes to PCs to portable media players and mobile devices, though, will require a flexible and seamless effort.

It is critical operators develop a comprehensive online video plan that ensures subscriber retention and growth of the customer base. With the robust strength of the networks in which they have invested heavily, cable operators are well-positioned for a landmark transition from first-generation digital services to a next-generation paradigm that, in the end, will be vastly different from today’s triple-play experience. To achieve any success, however, it is incumbent upon cable operators to take a holistic approach to such a plan.

Cable operators need a flexible foundation that supports multiple business models while embracing the continuum of content ranging from independent or niche program offerings like Hulu and YouTube to the large traditional content owners with video on the Web. Operators also will be challenged technically and operationally by bearing far more complex handling responsibility, significantly greater than they have experienced in the past.

To address these challenges, a good starting point would be the development of an automated content workflow combined with an integrated content security framework and a highly flexible subscriber-management system. This foundation will support a future that assures the diversity of content and a variety of security that will afford maximum flexibility for high value and long-tail content delivered to any digital device.

Also, operators will need to think about how they manage their metadata (data that describes what information resides in a video segment). It is clear that consumers have an appetite and propensity for an ever-expanding array of content, but the challenge today is how to sift through the virtually infinite number of channels to find exactly what they are looking for. In addition, operators will need to support consumer experiences that are highly intuitive. Existing electronic-program guide interfaces repurposed for inclusion of IP programming will increase overall viewership and strengthen competitive offerings that fulfill consumer content discovery activities in a convenient manner.

Choice, it would appear, has become a paradox — if operators can make the consumer experience seamless, it would follow that they can also reduce the impact of Internet-originating content, because their subscribers will not differentiate its source.

A compelling, interactive and intuitive user experience that makes up the solution only works if it is supported by comprehensive back-end systems that allow distributors to extract usage trends and billing reports that trigger margin-rich insights for cross-selling, up-selling and ad-efficacy. By subsequently using the direct-marketing power of the internet for dynamic and targeted ad placement, cable MSOs will create the ability to apply media control to either pay or ad-supported content offerings.

By focusing on an overall approach and getting the foundation right for IP video distribution, content security and home networking, cable operators stand to retain their dominance in this next generation of content delivery. The underlying platforms to achieve this are currently being planned or built and the distributors of content who take these bold but vital first steps to establish long-term platforms stand the best chance of success because they will have the flexibility for the ever changing future media landscape.

Content providers and niche programmers should also be big winners in this environment if the platform is truly secure and supports cross-platform delivery, as this will provide the broadest opportunity to monetize content.