The Cable Show 2013

The National Cable and Telecommunications Association’s (NCTA) annual Cable Show conference, held this year in Washington, D.C., proved to be a veritable treasure trove of information, and provided insight into the future of pay TV, its IPTV component and video as a whole.

Perhaps most interesting was the way the cable industry is uniting around Wi-Fi. Time Warner Cable, Comcast Xfinity, Bright House Networks, Cox Communications, and Optimum have collaborated to launch a massive, shared-use hotspot network called CableWiFi. Individual cablecos made announcements at the Cable Show 2013 as well, including Comcast, whose new SSID (service set identifier), “xfinitywifi,” turns subscribers’ STBs into neighborhood hotspots. One thing is certain: cable companies are aggressively leveraging Wi-Fi to extend their reach and gain further traction not only in wireless home services but perhaps even Wi-Fi-based mobile-phone service.

Meanwhile, Verizon FiOS customers with Android devices have received a big service upgrade. A new app from Big Red enables them to untether from their STBs and watch 75 channels of live TV and thousands of titles from the FiOS video-on-demand (VOD) library on their Android smartphones and tablets. The app also offers digital video recorder (DVR) control and functions as a remote control for the STB in the home.Streaming live TV to mobile devices has been a bit of a challenge even for a mobile service provider like Verizon, due in part to the broadcast restrictions imposed by various licensing deals. Its new service offering represents the future of television: anytime, anywhere and on any device.

It isn’t clear whether TVs will continue to get smarter as STBs disappear entirely or whether TVs will function merely as terminals while STBs persevere in various incarnations. But whatever the outcome, LG Electronics is ready for either reality: the television-set manufacturer announced a line of seven STBs at the Cable Show conference on June 10, some as small as a USB dongle. All of the new boxes enable cable operators to merge traditional pay TV with internet-delivered content from over-the-top (OTT) providers like Netflix and Google. LG’s dongle-sized units integrate well with smart TVs, while its stand-alone STBs can feed any video device.

“Traditional cable and smart-TV capabilities are converging faster than ever, driven by consumer demand,” said Kurt Hoppe, director of smart-TV innovation and new business for LG, in a news release. “Consumers are seeking ways to get all of their subscription-based services, cable feeds and video on demand in one place, and they want options that feel natural to them. With LG’s portfolio of STBs and open smart-TV platforms, cable operators have a comprehensive response that will satisfy subscribers’ entertainment needs now and in the future.” 

Late-breaking acquisition news

As this issue of Pipeline was going to press, several stories crossed the wire that bear mentioning.

Nokia bought out Siemens’s stake in their Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) joint venture for about $2.2 billion on July 1. There’s been no word yet on what the restructuring will entail, or how exactly the brand name will change, but most analysts agree that the buyout is good for the overall business. The announcement “is a very positive step forward for the mobile infrastructure company,” wrote Daryl Schoolar, principal analyst for network infrastructure at the research firm Ovum. “Mobile operators want stability in their network vendors, so ownership uncertainty certainly didn’t help NSN in the pursuit of new wins.”

Also on July 1, Ericsson continued the expansion of its video portfolio with the acquisition of Red Bee Media, a London-based media services company with more than 1,500 employees. This is a substantial addition to Ericsson’s expertise and capability in video, and will expand its UK operations to 4,000 employees in all, making that region the global media hub for the company.