Broadband Technology Intelligence

High-Speed broadband in Scandinavia | 08 Apr 13 tags › Scandinavia is home to some of the highest quality broadband in Europe and the demand for high-speed services is greater than ever. Operators are under intense pressure to provide these services and rolling out high-speed broadband enables operators in this region to offer superior content including HD via IPTV and better quality Video-on demand services. As a result, operators have upgraded their networks using a variety of technologies, and fixed line telcos have used FTTH and VDSL2 with cable companies adopting DOCSIS 3. Going forward, the growth of high-speed connections will vary significantly depending on the country. Two of the greatest influencing factors will be regulation and current network conditions.

Online Video Growth for RTL Group | 30 Mar 13 tags › European broadcaster RTL Group reported a 25 per cent increase in online video consumption in 2012, with its services generating over 2.4bn user-requests for professionally-produced content. Mobile and tablet devices have been a key focus for the group, which operates free-to-air TV channels in Germany, France, the Netherlands and other countries. Through 2012, the company relaunched a number of its catch-up TV apps, integrating social media functionality with the aim of helping to drive uptake and usage.

Fixed broadband operators looking to cheaper fibre alternatives | 28 Feb 13 tags › Fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) is the most 'future proof' technology used for the provision of high-speed broadband services, but due to its high cost many operators are exploring a range of technologies which are cheaper and quicker to roll out. We expect that given the emergence of copper-based technologies capable of keeping pace with FTTH, operators will not necessarily select pure fibre access deployments over the next 5 - 10 years, but instead will make choices regarding network construction based on legacy network configuration, time and competition considerations.

BSkyB to close Acetrax after finishing technology integration | 21 May 13 tags › BSkyB-owned transactional movie service Acetrax is to close on June 21st 2013. The service, which was acquired in April 2012, no longer offers download-to-own (digital retail/EST) movies but will continue to...

TalkTalk overtakes competitors in quarterly TV net additions | 15 May 13 tags › UK internet service provider TalkTalk has significantly reduced the price of its broadband and telephony bundle - the latest major packaging adjustment in the fast-changing UK TV and broadband market....

YouTube subscription channels herald 2nd dawn of paid multichannel fragmentation | 13 May 13 tags › Online video service YouTube has launched a pilot subscription option as part of its partner programme, with an array of 53 thematic channels available to YouTube users for a monthly fee of $0.99 upwards. Each...

The True Cost of OTT | 12 Mar 13 How do we provide context to the wider industry trend of delivering content outside of traditional point-to-multipoint broadcast networks? What is the true cost to content delivery of using internet and OTT distribution? How does the TV industry sit in context with the content creation industry moving towards OTT, and how does this trend marry with the increased use of complex in-home architectures such as Multimedia Home Gateways by pay TV operators? These questions are all addressed in a whistlestop tour of the complexities of OTT delivery. This presentation was first given at DVB World 2013 in Madrid by research director Tom Morrod.

BVA Research Day | 11 Mar 13 tags › Richard Broughton, Director of Broadband at IHS Screen Digest presented at the British Video Association's Research Day in March 2013. He examined trends in broadband access, and the uptake of home broadband services in the UK, and the status of the UK's online video sector, with a particular focus on the subscription sector, assessing the prospects of services such as Netflix and Lovefilm.