| Until recently the process of delivering advanced pay-TV functionality was complicated and usually expensive. In some cases introducing new features meant swapping out set-top boxes. The result was that operators wanted to be able to offer increased functionality – but they wanted the subscribers to pay for it. For their part, subscribers were already renting the set-top box and in most cases paying a monthly fee. They wanted better service for the same price.
Despite strong cases on both sides the fact remains that upgrading set-top boxes is expensive. The opposing interests led to an impasse because neither the operators nor their subscribers were interested in facing increased costs. The technology was ready but neither side was ready to pay for it.
“As is sometimes the case with financial decisions, this can be a deal breaker,” says Alexandre Maes, VP Sales, NDS France. “In addition to the advantages for all parties, changing set-top boxes to add functionality can be an investment issue,” he explains, “because operators traditionally buy the boxes and rent them to their subscribers.”
Hard drive meets STB
NDS recently deployed a solution to this impasse. Working with specifications from the CANAL+ GROUP in France, one of Europe’s largest pay-TV and DTH operators, NDS middleware now enables subscribers to connect an external hard drive to their STB via a USB port. In the case of CANAL+, they decide which hard disks their subscribers can use. The result: DVR functionality without changing STBs.
CANAL+ GROUP is now encouraging customers to upgrade to HD and DVR functionality. They have deployed NDS middleware to support their latest satellite dual tuner HD STB in France.
Dual tuners enable subscribers to watch one program while recording another.
The bottom line for pay-TV operators is that they can pass the buck back to the subscribers. Should subscribers be up in arms? “Definitely not,” Maes says. “Introducing the possibility of using external hard drives increases their viewing flexibility. They can benefit from DVR functionality without actually having a DVR,” he says.
The technology that enables this change is a new version of NDS MediaHighway® middleware which can be automatically downloaded to the STB. “HD STBs now detect a new external hard drive,” Maes explains, “and format the drive to be used as a DVR. Actually, subscribers can even use more than one external hard drive if they want,” he says.
NDS middleware has been deployed in over 83.1 million devices worldwide and its DVR technology leads the global market, having been deployed in over 12.1 million devices. By introducing external hard drives into the equation these numbers are set to grow.
“MediaHighway enables CANAL+ GROUP to offer its consumers the choice of the industry-leading pay-TV solutions it required,” says Caroline Le Bigot, NDS VP EMEA. “In the process it has demonstrated that it can handle complex requirements,” she says.
Benefits of external drives
• External drives are more cost effective than a new STB and the subscriber pays the bill. However, subscribers also gain because they may already own a compatible hard drive.
• The price of memory goes down constantly while the price of development of STBs doesn’t. In any case there is minimal cost to the operator while the cost to the subscriber is not prohibitive.
• External hard drives can actually extend the life of STBs which traditionally have a fixed amount of memory built in. By attaching external hard drives subscribers can upgrade their STB without increasing their monthly fee.
• Convenience. Traditionally subscribers go to the retailer to choose both the box and the service(s) they want. This takes time and energy. No one wants to replace the STB a few years down the line in order to accommodate new functionality. External DVRs work with the STBs subscribers already have. No replacement is necessary.
• This process is immediate. It works with the already installed customer base in a few days, minimizing logistical implications.
“This can be both a major step forward as well as a new business model for pay-TV operators worldwide,” Maes says. “What our experience with CANAL+ GROUP shows is that they were able to turn thousands of STBs that did not have hard drives into DVRs virtually overnight. And it didn’t cost them anything in hardware investment.”
“By using MediaHighway, subscribers can now plug a hard drive into their STB and in a matter of minutes they have a DVR,” Maes says. CANAL+ GROUP has deployed the latest generation of MediaHighway which easily allows subscribers to transform their HD set-top boxes into HD DVRs.
“NDS middleware has enabled CANAL+ to improve its offering,” Maes explains. “CANAL+ GROUP saw how successful it is in just a few months. And because subscribers don’t really have to do anything, what this amounts to is ‘convergence plug and play.’ There is no down time,” he says.
“This is the first time that external hard drives are being deployed in this way,” Maes says. But considering the advantages that NDS middleware delivers to both operators and subscribers, it may very well become a major step forward in the pay-TV market worldwide.
For more information:
NDS MediaHighway®
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