Tag: Internet TV

Should established free-to-air TV have a strong role in the connected TV experience

Apple TV tvOS Home Screen

Will free-to-air TV apps be required to have pride of place on your connected TV device’s home screen?

There is a fight brewing between the established free-to-air TV lobby and the pay-TV / subscription video-on-demand lobby about what should take the primary position on connected-TV devices.  It is part of a continual debate regarding the continued existence of the free-to-air TV services with other issues surfacing like anti-siphoning protection so that the sports that matter don’t end up exclusively on pay-TV or online subscription services.

This is more intense in countries like the United Kingdom, Europe and Australia whose governments and society place strong importance on the established public-service, commercial and community free-to-air TV services and their continual role in informing and entertaining us.

It is although younger generations are drifting away from these services towards the likes of Netflix or YouTube for their entertainment. This has been driven by the “cord-cutting” movement in the USA where younger people are ditching their cable or satellite pay-TV subscriptions in favour of online video services.

Why protect established free-to-air TV?

There is a strong societal defence for traditional established free-to-air TV in the UK, Ireland, Europe, Australia and similar countries. This is because the national free-to-air TV platform is based around at least one popularly-accepted and well-respected public-service broadcaster and a handful of commercial free-to-air broadcasters. In a lot of cases, most of the TV services existed since TV was commercialised in the Western world with some services, especially the public-service broadcasters, existing at the dawn of regular radio broadcasting in that area.

As well, due to the fact that the free-to-air TV broadcasters have to have a government-issued license or public-service-broadcasting charter to operate on the VHF and/or UHF wavebands, there has been strong human oversight over the content they publish and that it matches current social standards. This has led to it being considered a socially respectable platform and broadcasters who run advertising know that they are operating a brand-safe platform for their advertisers.

People who live in nations that value free-to-air TV see the free-to-air broadcasters as offering more locally-produced content due to various local-content mandates associated with their licences or charters. They notice that the free-to-air broadcasters play a significant part in boosting their nation’s cultural “soft power” and identity on the world stage. For example, there are shows like ABC Australia’s “Bluey” or Network 10’s “Neighbours” or “MasterChef Australia” that have acquired significant international viewership because they represent that Australian camaraderie.

Free-to-air TV broadcasters, especially the public service broadcasters like the BBC or Australia’s ABC are being valued as reliable sources of news and information. This is more so in the era of “post-truth” where fake news and disinformation delivered by social media is muddying the waters about what is accurate information or not and established media is seen as the preferred go-to if you are after accuracy in your news.

The debate is also about an existential threat to established media including free-to-air TV from Silicon Valley. This is because the online services offered by Silicon Valley, including social media, are being seen as offering newer fresher content than what established media can offer, something valued by younger people.

The current situation with connected TV devices

Connected TV platforms, whether represented by a Smart TV, a set-top box or a streaming stick, place importance on the home screen that these devices show up when you turn them on initially or press a “home” button on their remote control. These platforms are driven by client apps for various video-on-demand or streaming-TV services with users having to use the platform’s app store to install these client apps for the services they use.

Such services are represented by the likes of Netflix, YouTube or Vimeo; but also include local subscription-funded or advertising-funded video-on-demand services. This  may include the classic local pay-TV platforms that have set themselves up to deliver via Internet in addition to or in lieu of their legacy satellite or cable means, using an app rather than a set-top box for access to their content. Then most of the connected TV platforms have links to their own transactional or advertising-driven video-on-demand facility, FAST (free ad-supported streaming TV) service, video game store or other services.

In addition, some connected TV devices have dedicated buttons on their remote controls to facilitate one-touch access to video services like Netflix or YouTube. This is part of a partnership between the connected TV platform and the video service provider to maintain that kind of access.

To preserve their relevance in the connected-TV era, established free-to-air TV broadcasters are offering Broadcaster Video-On-Demand apps which make their content available on-demand This is based on previous “catch-up TV” services where you can catch up on prior episodes of a TV series, but now offer extras like binge-view opportunities or supplementary content.

Some broadcasters even offer free streaming TV channels through these apps that they wouldn’t be able to offer via RF means. This would include access to versions of their channels that are editorially different in other parts of the nation, such as to allow travellers and the like to follow content in their home area.  Or they would include special-event channels like showing each sport in the Olympic Games as separate channels. They may even stream channels from other content providers they have a strong business relationship with like what the Paramount-owned free-to-air channels are doing by hosting at least some of the Pluto TV FAST channels on the 10Play and My5 BVOD apps.

Even some of the advertising on content viewed through these apps has interactive TV elements such as “shoppable” advertising or access to long-form video content. This is in addition to experiencing a reduced ad load during the commercial breaks with the ads being more relevant to you, when you watch a show on demand through these services. But the important fact with the advertising is that the broadcasters control and benefit from the commercials that appear.

But there are a significant number of connected TV platforms that require the user to download the BVOD apps from the platform’s app store before you can use them. Then these apps typically end up at the bottom of the home screen and you would have to move them around to be visible when you turn the TV device on.

This may be an exception with some Smart TVs and RF-tuner-equipped set-top devices sold in the UK, Australia and New Zealand that implement the HBBTV-enhanced Freeview electronic programme guide that supports the ability to see prior shows. These have free-to-air BVOD apps pre-installed so as to facilitate this kind of viewing from the EPG.

Apple TV tvOS content recommendation screen

Will connected TV platforms be required to recommend content from established free-to-air channels here?

An increasing number of connected TV platforms are integrating “one-stop” content search, “next-episode” and content recommendation functions that tie in with their various video-on-demand apps and platforms. This allows a viewer to search for a particular show or identify shows worth watching at one point rather than diving in to and out of the various apps to find a desired programme. This is facilitated through the use of application-programming interfaces that provide a link to the content services via their apps.

Other upcoming trends to impact connected TV

The UK and Australia at least see the distribution via RF means using the outdoor aerial as the universal standard for access to free-to-air TV. This is although Continental Europe and, to some extent, Canada place acceptance on other RF-delivery means like cable or satellite delivery as part of universal access to free-to-air TV.

Free-to-air TV via the Internet or your home network

But the DVB Forum have established standards for delivery of TV service including free-to-air TV via local-area-network and Internet setups. One of these is DVB-I which is about streaming from Internet servers hosted by the broadcasters themselves while the other, known as DVB-HB, is about streaming from a broadcast-LAN tuner device connected to an aerial, cable-TV setup or satellite dish via a local area network. Both these systems provide the same user experience as traditional RF-based TV setups such as the ability to “channel surf” with the remote control.

This is in addition to the broadcast video-on-demand apps offering access to the broadcaster’s own free-to-air offerings and extra free streaming TV offerings through the Internet. In many cases, this also includes an electronic programme guide for these online channels, You may even find that you have access to area-specific content like news bulletins from other locations. But these apps don’t necessarily offer the classic user experience associated with watching TV.

Internet-first TV devices and setups

Your laptop, tablet or smartphone are replacing the traditional small portable TV as the way to watch TV in areas like the kitchen or garage. This is thanks to the broadcast video-on-demand platforms being available as an app or Website for regular or mobile computing platforms.

Add to this the smart display platforms like Amazon Echo Show or Google Nest Hub where you can summon particular channels using your voice. LG and Samsung haven’t forgotten the dot-com-era idea of Internet fridges with their products that could have support for video apps including free-to-air BVOD apps.

Subsequently LG and Samsung have been offering Internet-first TV devices, also known as smart monitors. LG has been offering the StanByMe range of monitor-sized battery-operated lifestyle TVs with one that folds up in to a suitcase. Samsung has also offered their Smart Monitors which combine the smart-TV functionality in to a computer monitor but don’t provide the RF tuner. It also includes people using connected-TV devices without RF connection to an aerial to watch their TV content, thanks to BVOD or TV-over-IP apps.

Here, these are devices that implement computing, smart-display or Smart TV platforms including access to video-on-demand platforms but omit RF tuners. With them, you could pull in video content via apps whether it be streaming in real time or playing from a video-on-demand server. In the case of the Internet-first TV devices, they would have a remote control so you can select what you want to view or regulate the sound from afar.

Delivery to airliners and ships

In some countries like India, it has been proven that they could use higher-bandwidth satellite Internet to deliver live free-to-air TV from the local TV channels to airliners flying domestic flights and offer this as a form of live inflight entertainment. Such setups would come in to their own with the sports that matter where people want to follow those matches during their flight.

This is facilitated with current-generation high-bandwidth satellite broadband Internet that is being delivered to commercial jets equipped with the necessary technology. More of these jets are being equipped for Wi-Fi Internet from the satellite broadband typically to provide as a passenger amenity whether bundled as part of a premium airfare or purchased at an extra-cost option. In a similar context, this could appeal to the maritime cohort where the passengers onboard ferries, cruise ships, yachts and the like, or the crew within navy or merchant-navy ships could gain access to free-to-air TV via Internet-based delivery thanks to satellite or other means.

Here, the combination of Internet-based TV service delivery and these satellite Internet services could make it feasible to have live free-to-air TV from local TV stations delivered as an entertainment option for air or maritime travel. Add to this the ability to use BVOD apps to allow air or ship passengers to watch shows from these stations on demand.

The issues here

The free-to-air TV lobby had noticed that connected TV platforms are engaging in some form of “pay to play” when it comes to what appears on the home screen by default. Here, it was perceived as being financially and ethically difficult for local free-to-air broadcasters to get their BVOD apps on the home screen within their country of operation.

Here. the local free-to-air TV establishment want the national governments to use legislation or regulation to make sure that their BVOD apps are installed by default and easily discoverable. This includes a similar want for content offered by free-to-air broadcasters, preferably locally-produced content, to be brought forward in any platform-wide content-search or content-recommendation engine.

On the other hand, the pay-TV lobby who are also representing subscription video-on-demand or even Big Tech want to maintain the status quo “in the name of the consumer”. This is due to a perceived fear that the customer who currently subscribes to an online video service not offered by free-to-air TV broadcasters won’t be able to install or satisfactorily use any client-side apps for these services. This includes not being able to see the online video service’s content in search results or content recommendations.

I see this argument of relevance when it comes to content search and recommendation engines that are being built in to the connected TV platforms. As well, this may impact one-touch access buttons on remote controls where it wouldn’t be economically feasible to provide this kind of access to any online video service, whether free-to-air or paid.

Which kind of devices will this affect?

Primarily I see this requirement affect TVs and set-top devices including streaming sticks pitched for household use. This is because these devices are primarily marketed for watching video entertainment in the home.

But there will be a call for Internet-first TV devices like the LG StanByMe family or the Samsung Smart Monitor family to face this requirement because of them being marketed for video entertainment consumption as a key use case.

Computers, mobile platform devices and games consoles may not face this requirement due to their core use case not being video entertainment. This is although you can use them to enjoy video entertainment using Websites or apps. But you may find that companies selling tablets or 2-in-1 laptops will want to court the countries that value free-to-air TV as an entertainment source by packaging the likes of BBC iPlayer, ITVX, ABC iView and 10Play alongside Netflix or YouTube when users register these devices in those countries. Or the app stores simplify the process of installing these BVOD aps.

A question that can come up is whether this requirement will only be for TVs and set-top devices sold primarily for household use. This is because TV manufacturers also sell a separate range of “commercial use” TVs that are pitched for installation in hotels, bars, common rooms, hospitals and the like. Here, we are likely to use these sets to watch TV content away from home such as in our hotel rooms and we would like the same user experience that we have at home.

These sets and devices are likely to have extra programmability in order to satisfy particular use cases like hotels. The software may be updated at a later time or manually compared to what is installed on equipment for the home and there may be a “business use” app store for apps used in a business sense. But there is a risk of manufacturers offering a Smart TV or set-top device as “commercial use” but sell them to householders to evade the various mandates associated with equipment sold to the residential market.

Small lodging places like bed-and-breakfasts / guest-houses, motels and inns are likely to prefer to purchase and install residential-use TVs. Similarly, houses or apartments available for short-term rental will prefer residential sets. This is due to the sets being cost-effective and offering a familiar user experience; and the businesses not wanting or needing superfluous levels of sophistication for their technology.

But could they be required to adhere to the same rules as residential-use equipment such as prominence for free-to-air apps on the home screen?

How does this impact connected TV device design and user experience

The impact of these mandates will affect the connected TV experience in a few ways,

When you set up a new device

Firstly, when you set up a new Smart TV or other connected TV device, you will find that the mandated apps are downloaded and installed by your device when it is connected to your home network. These will then appear on the home screen as part of the default setup, This is because of the fact that you have to select the country you’re in at or close to the setup / install routine and this determines what apps are downloaded and installed in your connected TV device.

This situation will also occur if you have to subject your connected TV device to a factory-reset due to it being balky or something you should do when you take possession of a second-hand device. Some devices may rearrange the screen for the mandatory apps and download or update them during a major software upgrade.

The home screen

Under these mandates, the home screen on a connected TV device will be required to have the free-to-air BVOD apps in the home screen and accessible with a minimum of scrolling.

Some home screens may create a “local TV” strip with the free-to-air BVOD apps inhabiting that strip on the home screen towards the middle. It most likely would exist alongside an icon that allows you to view an electronic programme guide and change channels if it has RF-based or IP-based tuning means.This will most likely be above a larger strip with Netflix, YouTube and other popular subscription services inhabiting that strip.

This is whereas others like Apple TV will simply sequence the free-to-air BVOD apps ahead of Netflix, YouTube and co.  These may even have to group them on the same row and have each icon highlighted in a distinct manner.

You will still be able to use the “screen edit” function that your connected TV platform offers to rearrange the app icons on the home screen. This may be to bring all the services you use frequently and regularly closer to each other on the home screen. This kind of option may be either invoked through selecting a “screen edit” function on the setup menu or holding down on one of the icons to invoke “screen edit”.

Content search and recommendation behaviour

A mandate for free-to-air-TV prominence that impacts content search and recommendation would require a content search engine that works across a connected TV platform to place free-to-air TV content at the top of the “found content” list.

The content recommendation or “up next” (list episodes in a series that aren’t viewed)engine in the connected TV platform would also be required to place content from free-to-air broadcasters at the head of the recommended-content list. There may even be a requirement to place locally-produced content first, to encourage us to prefer this content for our evening’s viewing.

This would put the pay TV lobby’s nose out of joint because it would be hard to discover the content that a pay-TV or other online service has to offer. That is even though you have the likes of Netflix who are having their local offices commission original local work around the world and satisfy local content requirements for their social licence to operate in other countries.

One-touch access to services on the remote control

Another issue is how the remote control is designed if the manufacturer is to have one-touch buttons for access to particular online video services. If local free-to-air apps are being mandated as far as the remote control is concerned, it may be about adding five or more extra buttons with logos representing the online platforms offered by local free-to-air channels. This would be in addition to buttons for Netflix and YouTube,

Then the manufacturers forego the economies of scale associated with designing and manufacturing the same remote control with the same functionality and labelling for all world markets. Such an approach would also not survive any rebranding efforts that an online video provider undertakes.

This problem may be solved through implementing touchscreen or e-ink technology in remote controls. It also exploits the trend to use Bluetooth two-way communication in consumer-electronics remote controls so you are not having to have clear line of sight between the handset and the device.

It would come about with an array of six or eight e-ink-labelled buttons or a touchscreen that uses OLED or similar technology. The button array or touchscreen would be populated with the logos of the popular or mandated online video services for the country the device is used in and you use that to select these video services. Such a design may exist as a way to globalise the remote control design and bring back economies of scale by supporting “mass customisation”.

But this approach may require designers to go back to the traditional remote control design associated with TV sets and pay-TV set-top boxes rather than a very small “stick-like” design. This approach would come across as an approach that some consumers may prefer because it is a size that is harder to lose and would be welcome with devices that support traditional TV user interfaces.

What can be done

Customisation options

There is the issue of customising the home screen layout after you have set up your connected TV device. This is something you will have to do in order to make it easy to discover the services that you make use of, no matter what kind they are.

Here, any requirement to place free-to-air BVOD apps at the top of the home screen shouldn’t preclude you from rearranging your service icons around the screen. This may be due to you preferring and regularly visiting a particular mix of services whether free-to-air, classic pay-TV or online-first.

That means a connected-TV platform would have to have the home-screen customisation process assessed as part of its useability testing, with this assessed under “lean-back” operation conditions. That is where you are at a distance from the screen, typically in an armchair or couch, and using the standard remote control associated with the connected TV device.

The process could be simplified by “quick arrange” shortcuts like “Local TV first”, “Popular Online first” or “Frequently Used first” which sorts the icons according to particular orders.

These user customisations would need to be saved, whether on the device or on the user account associated with the connected TV platform.

Device-level / account-level content ranking preferences

There could be support for device-level or account-level learning of regularly used online video services. This would show up search results or recommended content results based on the services you have enrolled with and are frequently using.

Viewers should have the ability to enable ranking various factors such as services, locality of the content, content quality . Again these settings could be saved either on the device or the user account.

This could also be about connected TV platforms supporting the importing of watchlists from other sources. It could then allow film / TV experts and personalities that you follow to hand-curate and publish watchlists of recommended content so you can work through what they have recommended.

Conclusion

This debate over mandating free-to-air TV apps on connected TV devices will affect how they and their operating systems are designed. This will be about what appears on the home screen by default or which providers’ output appear at the top of platform-wide content search or recommendation results.

DVB to introduce a simplified Internet-driven TV standard

Article

LG OLED TVs pres picture courtesy of LG

DVB-I could continue to push the traditional TV interface to Internet TV

DVB wants to enable streaming channels without app complexity | VideoNet

From the horse’s mouth

DVB

Press Release

My Comments

It is often said that today’s cool young viewers have done away with watching TV the traditional way where you select a channel and view a sequence of shows run on that channel.

Rather they are seen to prefer to watch on-demand content offered by one of many different on-demand services including “catch-up” TV services, making more of an effort to choose the kind of shows that interest them. It is underscored by the practice of “binge-watching” a TV series where one watches multiple episodes of that TV series along with Netflix and co implementing recommendations engines to list shows that one may be interested in.

TV remote control

It will maintain the traditional remote-control experience like channel surfing

But this traditional approach to  TV content consumption is still practised by most viewers, especially those of older generations.

Some viewers still like the idea of “channel surfing” where one flicks through the channels to discover something that could be of interest to them. In some areas like some of Australia’s capital cities, it was facilitated with some channels that were neighbouring each other on the dial. This habit has been made easier since television sets were equipped with remote controls or could be connected to devices like video recorders or cable boxes that provided remote-control channel change.

As well, it is seen by some of these viewers, including children, to be relaxing to watch a run of TV shows offered by one of the channels. Examples include an afternoon after school where children watch cartoons or similar TV shows, or the practice of having a TV news channel play while one engages in ordinary daily activities.

Let’s not forget that news and sports content totally lend themselves to this kind of viewing. In some cases, there may be two concurrent sporting fixtures of interest, such as the Boxing Day ritual in Australia where households flick between the Seven Network for the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race and the Nine Network for the Boxing Day Test cricket match. Or one could flick through channels running different coverage of the same news event to compare how they cover it or look for further detail about that event.

Let’s not forget that the on-demand TV experience can be “linearised” for a viewer through being led on to recommended content or subsequent episodes of a series.

What is DVB doing to bridge the linear TV experience with the Internet?

The DVB Consortium who define the digital-TV standards that Europe, most of Asia and Oceania work with are working towards defining the DVB-I standard. I would suspect that most of this effort has been driven by Germany’s approach to free-to-air and pay TV where the idea of delivering TV service is to be media-agnostic and most, if not all, TV stations in the German-speaking countries are delivered by the traditional TV aerial, a cable-TV infrastructure or satellite TV.

The DVB-I standard is an IP-based TV broadcasting standard that supports the provision of linear-streaming TV services through the open Internet. Here it is intended to provide an app-free experience in a similar manner to TV services received via the traditional TV aerial, cable TV infrastructure or satellite dish. This means that a TV or set-top box can be connected to a home network and Internet service then the customer can be asked to add Internet-hosted streaming services to the programme lineup with the set discovering these services from a directory like what has happened with Internet radio.

There has been an earlier attempt at this goal in the USA with RVU technology that is part of the DLNA VidiPath specification, but it has been used primarily as an attempt to deliver cable-TV to secondary TV sets without the need for extra set-top boxes. This was also as part of an Obama-era effort to require cable-TV providers to deliver their pay-TV services to households without the need for each household to rent a set-top box from that provider.

Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 tablet

One app will be all that is needed to deliver TV to a smartphone, tablet or laptop

The goal will also be about providing a similar experience for Internet-streamed linear TV content as what we have traditionally experienced with broadcast TV, whether free-to-air or subscription (pay) service. This includes the ability to support logical channel numbers that allow for direct access to particular channels, the ability to quickly change channels no matter the source thus continuing the “channel-surfing” tradition.

But on the other hand, some service providers such as cable-TV providers will want to convey their branding and user interface to the end-user. This may also be seen as being important with broadcast-LAN device manufacturer, building owners / strata committees who run MATV setups, or hoteliers who want to persist their identity to the end-user. It can also apply to end-users who are using budget-level equipment where not much thought has been put in to the user interface. HBBTV has answered this need through the use of an “OpApp” or “Operator App” standard to permit the ability to deliver that operator-level interface, which would appeal to TV-service platforms of the Freeview kind.

For broadcasters, DVB-I would do away with the need to create and maintain client software that viewers would need for access to their content. This also does away with various platform issues that creep up with maintaining these apps including catering to each new smart-TV, computer or video-peripheral platform. It also means that people who own older Smart TVs or video peripherals based on platforms that have been abandoned or neglected by the set’s manufacturer aren’t at a disadvantage.

Some of the key benefits that could come about include:

A transport-medium independent operation approach for receiving linear TV broadcasts. This means that TV manufacturers and broadcasters can work towards a simplified “single line-up” for traditional TV broadcast services no matter whether they are carried over the Web or via satellite, cable or terrestrial RF means.

The ability to support broadcast-LAN infrastructure including cable-TV and master-antenna-TV (single antenna or satellite dish serving many TVs like in an apartment block) setups driven totally by IP (Internet Protocol) technology. This approach will be relevant with infrastructure-level broadband providers wanting to use their infrastructure to deliver free-to-air and/or pay-TV services, something being approached by Chorus in New Zealand.

Ability for niche TV services with traditional-style TV experience to exist via Internet due to no need to obtain broadcast-spectrum licences, set up transmitter equipment or get on board cable-TV infrastructure. In a lot of ways, this could reignite the possibility of community TV services coming back on board and not living in fear of losing their access to broadcast spectrum.

With the use of HBBTV (Hybrid Broadcast-Broadband TV), this standard could lead towards a rich linear + on-demand TV setup through traditional TV sets and set-top boxes without the need for special client software. Similarly, it could lead to the creation of gateway software for regular or mobile computer devices to provide access to commonly-available video content services through these devices, knowing that this software can work with newer IP-based broadcasters.

The DVB-I approach could then open up the pathway for a universal TV service that makes use of Internet-based infrastructure like next-generation broadband infrastructure without the need for it to be app-centric.

Freeview now aggregates Australian FTA TV Internet streams in a mobile app

Article

TV networks to launch aggregated streaming app | AdNews

Previous Coverage

Broadcast TV via the Internet

My Comments

Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 tablet

Tablets and smartphones could end up as the place to watch TV and you don’t need a tuner module

Previously, I covered the issue of regular TV broadcasters running Internet-video streams of their traditional broadcast output. This has been offered as part of a Web-front or native app that the TV network supplies, typically to facilitate access to their catch-up TV service.

This is about not needing to use a USB or broadcast-LAN TV tuner device to watch TV on your smartphone, tablet or laptop. It underscores the goal of having one of these devices take over the role of that small-screen TV you would have in the kitchen to watch “Days Of Our Lives” while you do the ironing.

One of the issues I had raised with this approach was that you had to switch between apps if you wanted to view content on other networks and this didn’t play well with the classic TV channel-surfing experience of being able to switch between the channels using the same “control surface” on the TV set or remote control. This is where you would immediately landed on some content when you changed channels.

Freeview Australia, who represent Australia’s free-to-air TV networks, had established a hybrid-broadcast-broadband TV platform that integrates catch-up TV offerings and the real-time TV content from all of these networks under the Freeview Plus platform. This platform required you to purchase a new compliant Smart TV or set-top box and you weren’t sure whether your existing Smart TV could work with this, especially in the context of TV sets being considered durable items.

Now they have extended this Freeview Plus platform to mobile devices by creating an aggregated experience where you can switch between channels on the same app. It also allows for content to be searched across the live streams and the catch-up services so it is easier to pinpoint what you are after on your tablet.

But one feature I would provide for is to be able to determine the live streams that you want to be able to switch between so you can maintain the traditional viewing experience with your smartphone or tablet. This includes being able to switch between the channel you last viewed and the current channel which would play well with the after-Christmas ritual of watching the Boxing Day Test and the Sydney-Hobart yacht race, switching between them when the advertising plays.

At least what is happening is that a free-to-air integration platform like the different “Freeviews” operating in the Commonwealth countries is tackling the issue of free-to-air TV channels running Internet streams and providing an integrated viewing experience for mobile devices.

Broadcast TV via the Internet

Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 tablet

Tablets and smartphones could end up as the place to watch TV and you don’t need a tuner module

I have noticed that every traditional TV broadcaster that is running a “catch-up TV” platform is now streaming their regular TV channels live over the Internet using this platform. It is primarily pitched at those of us who use smartphones, tablets or laptops to view TV content “on the road” without the need for a TV-tuner module or broadcast-LAN tuner box and, in some ways, is being seen as TV’s equivalent to Internet radio.

Local content and advertising

This has opened up a can of worms when it comes to the kind of content available for people to view on their mobile devices, including the issue of regional content. In Australia, for example, the live-TV-over-Internet service primarily offers what is being broadcast to the metropolitan areas for the state capitals and this is ruffling local feathers when it comes to broadcasting news and public-affairs content relevant to the regional areas or providing airtime for local businesses to advertise their wares.

One of the core issues concerning the “live-TV-over-Internet” will be the locality of the editorial and advertising content including where is the content “local to”. If you listen to a foreign radio station’s Internet-radio stream using your Internet radio, you will know what this is about because of the talk and advertising that is local to that station’s city and there are people who like this either as a foreign-language learning tool or to acquire the “fabric” of that city if they lived there or have a soft spot for that area.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Ultrabook

… as could laptops

This issue regarding TV could be rectified using streams that represent an area’s key markets and these streams have editorial and advertising content representative to those markets. The use of dynamic-ad-insertion technology would earn its keep with local campaigns being ran in the commercial breaks which could ameliorate the issues associated with local businesses not able to advertise their wares to their markets.

Area-specific rights issues

An issue that will impact “live-TV-over-Internet” will be area-specific rights for broadcast content. This is where a broadcaster buys exclusive rights to exhibit a particular sports fixture, movie or TV show in a geographic area, especially on a first-run basis. Typically these rights will be protected with

There will be the broadcast and customer-service issues being raised because a show normally available on a particular channel is not shown due to it conflicting with a local network’s existing rights.

Internet-only TV services

Another issue yet to come forward is the ability to gain access to “Internet-only” TV broadcasters which will come about as “live-TV-over-Internet” gains momentum. Such broadcasters are received primarily via your Internet service without having an over-the-air or cable/satellite presence.

These will manifest in the form of extra channels offered by a traditional broadcaster but not on the traditional broadcast platform, or an Internet-only broadcaster who would be able to run boutique content cheaply and easily due to low onboarding costs.

The issue that will show up with running an “Internet-only” TV service is how easy is it for potential viewers to discover these services especially if the goal is to run a scheduled-content service.

Content discovery

Another issue will be whether Internet TV will kill the traditional “channel-surfing” or “flicking” experience where viewers often flicked around the TV’s channel selector or jabbed the channel buttons on the remote control to look for something to watch. This is the main method where a lot of users discover newer radio and TV content. The current implementation would require you to run one catch-up TV / VOD app and browse the channels the broadcaster is offering, then run another app offered by another broadcaster and browse those channels to get the “lay of the land”.

This may be rectified through the use of a directory service similar to what has existed for Internet radio. Here, this could allow for a “channel-surf” experience along with the ability to browse for channels that offer content based on genres or other factors. Such a directory could be part of an electronic programme guide which encompasses all of the broadcasters and may work in conjunction with network or cloud PVR setups.

With Internet radio, multiple providers like vTuner and TuneIn Radio had set up to provide access to the Internet-radio streams, both those of AM/FM/digital broadcasters and of Internet-only stations. This means that an Internet radio or a mobile app would effectively have the same directory and different set manufacturers even had the ability to “brand” their own directories so as to be part of their user experience. This could then apply to Internet-based TV with different ISPs, smart-TV platform vendors, Websites and others running or licensing Internet-TV directories.

PVR recording

An issue that will also crop up is the concept of PVR recording of TV shows streamed via an Internet-based TV service. This will most likely be facilitated via an EPG so you can choose the shows from a programme grid or “what’s showing” list.

This could be achieved via a local-storage effort such as a traditional set-top device or a NAS that serves the home network; or a cloud-based effort based on the “software-as-a-service” model.

As what has happened with video recorders and traditional PVR devices, there will be the need to sort out copyright issues regarding the recording of shows. The new landscape in the context of “PVR as a service” will be highlighted in this context is the concept of “shared recordings” where one recording is made and many viewers view that single copy; or “private recordings” where each household has its own copies of the TV shows in a “digital locker” on the servers. Similarly, another issue that will show up is the portability of these recordings especially if the recordings are taken across national borders which would be a key issue in areas like North America or Europe.

The issue of portable recordings will come to the fore with us using mobile devices or a TV at another location like a friend’s home or a hotel to catch up on favourite TV shows.

Conclusion

What is becoming a reality is that television as we knew it is appearing via the Internet in addition to or in lieu of traditional broadcast-based pathways.

4K UHDTV to benefit from the UK pay-TV battleground

Article

Expect Sky and BT to launch new 4K boxes sooner rather than later | Engadget

Sky accelerates new set-top box launch | The Telegraph (UK)

My Comments

4K UHDTV - part of the UK pay-TV battleground

4K UHDTV – part of the UK pay-TV battleground

The UK pay-TV battleground between Virgin, BT and Sky, is to benefit the 4K UHDTV technology with BT and Sky offering an IP-linked set-top box that will yield 4K content as part of their service.

This is because BT is stepping in to the battleground when it comes to broadcast rights for UK and European football (soccer) matches and 4K UHDTV will become a bargaining chip whenever the rights are being renegotiated. It is also about keeping the subscriber base alive through and beyond the footie season especially as 4K UHDTV-capable sets start to come in to price ranges that most can think about.

Both the companies will deliver the 4K UHDTV services via Internet with the use of 4K-capable set-top boxes that are connected to the home network and Internet service. These companies are also on about offering the services as a multi-play “eggs in one basket” package with pay-TV and fixed broadband Internet along with, perhaps, fixed-line telephony and a mobile telecommunications service. The 4K technology will be seen more as a subscription driver for these multi-play services.

They are also factoring in multi-room and multi-screen viewing so you can view the TV content on devices like your regular computer or your tablet.

Sky’s imminent 4K-capable set-top will be seen as a way to stave off them shedding subscribers due to loss of Champions League footie broadcasts. This is while BT is intending to have 4K on BT Sport within months with the provision of a new set-top in UK Spring that will be augmented with a heavy marketing push. Let’s not forget that Virgin Media, UK’s cable-TV service, is not taking this lying down. They are trialling a 4K UHDTV service with an intent to put 4K down the cable.

Brits will have to eventually consider implementing a wired backbone along with their Wi-Fi network as this momentum becomes strong with the competing pay-TV providers. This will most likely mean looking towards HomePlug AV500 or HomePlug AV2 which uses the existing ring main that delivers the household electricity as the “wired no-new-wires” data backbone.

Sony’s effort to make 4K UHDTV mainstream

Article

Sony aims to take 4K mainstream with US$4,999 TV, media player, download service – consumer electronics, TVs, sony – PC World Australia

My Comments

Sony are working towards making the 4K ultra-high-definition TV technology become mainstream and breaking the “chicken-and-egg” situation that endangers this technology through some differing efforts.

One effort is to offer a 55” 4K UHDTV set for US$4999. You may think that this high resolution is good for sets with screen sizes of at least 70” but offering a set with a very high pixel density may also bring through the high-pixel-density issue that has been occurring with computers through to the main lounge room.

Similarly, they are fielding a hard-disk media player which is loaded with a selection of Sony Pictures movies mastered to 4K to be available for people who buy or own the Sony 4K UHD TV sets. They are also working on a paid content service which most likely will work with the Internet. Of course, I am not sure what business models will apply when it comes to distributing the content.

This is even though Sony are on a good wicket with use of the 4K technology in movie production, such as transfering 35mm cine-camera footage to 4K digital movie files for digital post-production or using 4K digital masters for digital film distribution. As well, 4K UHDTV could legitimise the need for next-gen broadband as the content is primarily distributed through Internet-hosted methods.

Personally, I would find that the 4K technology could be assisted through the availability of a broadcast technology for traditional “scheduled-content” viewing, the ability to deliver the content in a hard-copy form on cost-effective media like optical discs to satisfy collecting or gift-giving; as well as the IP-based streamed or download delivery mechanisms.

A tabletop Internet radio that doubles as an Internet TV

Articles – German language

19. Dezember – Albrecht DR870 HD-TV,7′ Internet Radio-TV Media Player zu gewinnen | GIZMODO DEGIZMODO DE

Product Page

Albrecht DR870

My Comments

Here is another Internet radio, pitched for use in the kitchen, that has the typical features of a set of its class. This set, known as the Albrecht DR870 and available in Germany, has the FM, Internet radio, local media playback via SD card and access to the DLNA Home Media Network. It would mean that it can play whatever is on the NAS or a Windows computer running Windows Media Player.

But it is also pitched as an auxiliary TV which can pull in DVB-T digital TV as well as various Internet TV services and show these on a 7” LCD screen. This class of compact AV product could earn its keep a fair bit more for “glancing” at news, sports or other events in the kitchen or similar location while you do other activities.

What I see of this is that it could raise the bar as far as a compact radio that is destined for the kitchen, office or small shop. Here, this can integrate TV reception as well as radio reception and media playback in that class of unit and shows what the direction is for a tabletop radio or similar device.