Entone Outfits Telcos to Offer Hybrid Linear IPTV

By Paula Bernier, Executive Editor, IP Communications Magazines

For all the interest, activity and hype around online video and over-the-top providers, most of us still consume the bulk of our programming using the TV. That said, many consumers would probably like to be able to access both live TV, and online video and applications through their televisions. And some network operators would like to enable that, and in the process differentiate themselves from the competition. Entone has unveiled a solution that will allow just that.

For the cost of a typical set-top box, Entone’s (News - Alert) FusionTV will allow service providers to deliver HDTV to multiple TVs in home, whole home DVR, photo sharing, Internet music, the ability to discover and display end users’ rich media assets, place shifting (similar to what Slingbox allows) and social networking applications, said Steve McKay, Entone CEO. He added that Entone is also bringing content from its partners, like on-demand HD movie service provider Vudu, along for the ride, so service providers don’t have to negotiate individual content deals to offer new services.

The IPTV (News - Alert) Edition of FusionTV, based on Entone’s recently announced WebVOD solution which allows IPTV operators to offer web-based video on demand with a software download to Entone’s media hubs, targets telco operators that have not deployed IPTV in certain markets or at all. It also addresses network operators’ concerns that they will be relegated to offering dumb pipes as over-the-top services gain steam and as existing pay TV services wane.

“The operators are clearly under threat from the pure-play OTT services where more and more compelling content is available online and on-demand,” said Ameer Karim (News - Alert), vice president of Hybrid TV for Entone. “However, the operators also understand that consumers place great value on live TV, premium content, true HDTV programming, and the ability to record their favorite shows.”

The average U.S. consumer watches almost 160 hours of TV a month, more than ever before, according to a study Entone is quoting.

“The punch line to this is that the killer app of TV is still TV, and all these other services combined are not your primary input to TV, they’re what you’re doing when you’re not watching TV,” McKay told TMCnet.

On the other hand, McKay adds, pay TV for the first time in 40 years experienced a drop in users, with a net loss of 216,000 subscribers. Analysts are unsure whether that’s attributable to the economy or is the beginning of a downward trend for traditional pay TV services.

FusionTV helps telcos and cablecos deliver IPTV services and without the investment and time involved with having to build their own VoD infrastructure and negotiate content deals, McKay continued.

Entone is now in FusionTV consumer trials with six U.S. telcos, one of which is a tier 1 provider, two of which are tier 2 outfits, and three of which are tier 3 companies. McKay says he expects the first telco deployment based on FusionTV to launch commercially in the first quarter of next year.

Once telcos (and cablecos, for which Entone is also offering the FusionTV solution) get a good amount of subscribers on their FusionTV-enabled hybrid services, McKay says, they could potentially sell and deliver advertising against all the content. While the advertising component isn’t something that’s baked in to the Entone solution, McKay said the company has planned for that eventuality and expects to partner with one or more ad serving companies that could run their services over the FusionTV platform.

(source: http://iptv.tmcnet.com/topics/iptv/articles/113250-entone-outfits-telcos-offer-hybrid-linear-iptv.htm)