Eutelsat has developed a new multiscreen delivery solution that combines satellite’s ability to deliver content to the many with the personalised experience of the smart device.
The technology was shown privately at IBC 2015 in September and is being demonstrated this week at Eutelsat’s annual broadcaster seminar in Rome.
“We believe we cannot limit our offer to the TV set in the living room. We have to provide a solution for personal devices that’s compatible with the fact that more and more people are using them, mainly when they are at home, or in their offices,” said Eutelsat’s director of innovation, Antonio Arcidiacono. “There’s the possibility of delivering services with a guaranteed quality, the big advantage of the satellite, and given we are ubiquitous we can go instantly into any place with an offer, at home but also in restaurants, bars, shopping malls, etc. For the broadcasters, this satellite-delivery service is very cost-effective”
A proof of concept is being transmitted from the Eutelsat Hot Bird neighbourhood at 13 degrees East.
Platform operators would broadcast live video in the IP format over satellite. Neotion’s DVBeacon device, embedding Broadpeak’s nanoCDN solution, receives the DVB Transport Stream, extracts the relevant IP streams and distributes them towards a Wi-Fi Access Point.
Ludwigsburg-based 3 Screen Solutions has developed a dedicated app through which the subscriber can easily navigate.
Arcidiacono said the big players would be more than capable of taking the service from Eutelsat and managing it on their own; for the smaller operators Eutelsat can provide an end-to-end managed service.
While Arcidiacono admitted there were countries where broadband coverage was largely sufficient, there were still territories like Italy where only half of households have taken up broadband connections deemed as adequate. “That’s the other half who if they try to access over the top they will experience a very bad quality or they cannot receive it all.”
He pointed out that in the Middle East, where Eutelsat has 52 million households looking at its leading neighbourhood 7/8° West degrees, there were limits on the amount of bandwidth a customer is allowed per month. “If we manage to provide a solution that is inexpensive to the broadcaster and the broadcaster can send the content to all of the places with an independent receiving device, this is very interesting for the customer because it will not cost him anything and he has a guaranteed quality”.
