Think how great it would be to have access to content through Web 2.0 services on your television screen, that truly matches your interests and passions.
Well, this is not a dream world that we are referring to -- these features are fast becoming a reality.
Global software and hardware manufacturers are working closely with Pay TV operators to bring in content convergence to your doorstep.
Television is no longer a standalone media and consumers want to enjoy Internet and PC entertainment experiences on the TV screen. They want content convergence and access to their favourite content at their own time, wherever they are, on multiple devices around the home.
The television industry is recognising this need and scrambling to bring in solutions that cater to it. Advanced Digital Broadcast, the Switzerland-based solutions provider for global Pay TV players, is among top global players and is taking active steps to usher in a sea-change in how the consumers view content across various screens in India.
ADB, part of the $400 million ADB Group, which provides hybrid software solutions, middleware powered set-top boxes, has deployed 13 million such boxes across the world, and has signed up with two Pay TV service providers in India.
Francois Pogodalla, CEO of ADB, in an exclusive interview, told Business Standard: "Pay TV operators need to decide how they are going to handle the inevitable interaction between TV, consumer electronic devices like PCs and portable media players, and the Internet.
Service providers who give consumers the choice to enjoy linear and time-shifted TV, Internet video, social networking and personal content on TV will be pioneering the next major trend in television. By enabling content convergence at home they will open the way to brand new services that appeal to all generations but especially younger consumers."
The key differentiator for a Pay TV operator is to have a greater share of the time people spend entertaining themselves at home.
"There is a huge opportunity for operators to differentiate their services, increase customer loyalty and, therefore, grow market share and revenues. It is this specific solution we offer," said Pogodalla.
Service providers have moved decisively to support on-demand and time-shifted viewing and to make television content -- including programmes recorded on digital video recorders -- available in multiple rooms.
The next big challenge is to give customers access to non-television content on the TV.
"Content is still king in the modern living room but consumers are interested in more types of content including: Personal video captured on cameras and often stored on PCs; special-interest video from the Internet; broadcaster-originated Internet video that is no longer available on TV; community-based opinion and recommendations about programming; photos and other content from friends and family via social networking sites," Pogodalla reasoned on why more and more Pay TV operators are opting for hybrid solutions, which offers these features.
To make this new consumer TV experience a reality, Pay TV operators need to connect their Wide Area Network with the Local Area Network in the customer premise.
Then they must support the seamless movement of multimedia around the home and in particular to the TV and home theatre system. This requires hybrid set-top boxes and DVRs) that are equally comfortable accessing content from different sources.
Pogodalla said: "Through our end-to-end understanding of set-top box software, we can design and supply optimised hardware platforms, including for the cable, IPTV, satellite and digital terrestrial TV markets."
