conax061115.qxp_conax 06/11/2015 10:30 Page 1
Tips for tapping pay-TV
and DTT success in Africa
Conax offers advice on how operators can benefit
from the changing pay-TV landscape and the
emergence of successful DTT platforms.
ackground: How the pay-TV
industry is changing - from a
consumer’s view
From the consumers’ point of view, pay-TV
has probably changed more in the last few
years than during the first decade of this
century. TV is available on a range of different
devices; tablets are used as companion
devices; social media is increasingly
influencing TV consumption and vast video
libraries have become available to the majority
of TV viewers – just to mention a few
developments. And while this has increased
choice and made TV more personal, it also
introduces a more fragmented experience that
many consumers may find bewildering.
B
What should
operators look for as
they move to run
content on multiple
screens and over
multiple networks?
There has been a
substantial amount of
chatter about OTT over
the last few years and
we are now beginning to
see some real solutions and real deployments.
Despite numerous predictions of the TV dying,
television remains a ‘core necessity’ (only now
together with a variety of new multiscreen and
mobile devices to take the home’s TV viewing
experience to
the next level). A rapidly growing variety of
technologies and market players are popping
up to guide operators to position for the next
level of TV content distribution.
In the current market environment, pay-TV
operators are looking to get their feet wet, to
determine how to best position for offering
Over-the-Top content over multiple devices
and through multi-network content
distribution. Besides offering the content that
people want at a price they are willing to pay,
it is all about creating a compelling and
convenient experience. Stitching together a
new TV ecosystem or adding new services and
high QoE (Quality-of-Experience) that today’s
consumers demand is a challenge that pay-TV
16 Africa Briefing
operators will need to excel in. Handling the
complexity of delivering TV over different
networks to a range of devices, and the
introduction of new innovations and services
should not be taken lightly. We believe that
most operators do well in teaming up with
experienced solution providers to support
them.
So, what are some of the key challenges
for operators, besides monetisation?
Monetisation is of course the most important,
but the operational cost and the ability of the
delivery platform to grow and to adapt and
enable new innovative services are also key to
remaining competitive. In order to draw a
profit from the evolving
multiscreen/multinetwork content
distribution ecosystem,
operators need to ensure
their content is secure.
Here are a few tips on
how pay-TV can harness
the opportunities
provided by the
expanding content
distribution universe.
Operators need a strategy where they
remain a one-stop entertainment shop.
Retention of eyeballs is crucial. Traditionally,
operators needed to aggregate content so that
consumers did not have to go elsewhere. Now,
operators also need to aggregate ot