euro news1112v3_news 10/12/2015 18:20 Page 7
Eutelsat: Consumers
ready to embrace UHD
ey findings of new qualitative
consumer research conducted
for Eutelsat by market research
firm TNS, and fresh data from GfK on
Ultra HD screen sales, suggest that
consumers in key European TV markets
are ready to embrace Ultra HD and
invest in equipment and content.
“Eutelsat has researched consumer
awareness and appetite for the Ultra HD
experience in order to support our broadcast
clients as they evaluate business models and
K
Germany, Poland Russia
and Turkey: the first wave
in November 2014 and
the second in June 2015.
The objective, in a series
of focus groups, was to
expose pay-TV
subscribers and free-toair viewers to an
unprompted Ultra HD experience and gather
insight on their response.
The results show common trends across all
“The stage is
set for Ultra
HD to be TV’s
next big success
story.”
timing for rolling-out Ultra HD content,” said
Markus Fritz, Eutelsat director of commercial
development and marketing. “The stage is set
for Ultra HD to be TV’s next big success story
and Eutelsat, as a leader in satellite delivery, is
ready to accompany clients in this new
rendezvous with viewers.”
The consumer qualitative study was carried
out in two waves in Italy, France, the UK,
Amazon Web Services
acquires Elemental
Amazon Web Services (AWS),
the cloud technology
infrastructure platform unit
of Amazon, is to acquire
software-defined video
solutions specialist
Elemental Technologies. The
acquisition brings together
Elemental’s leading video
solutions with the AWS
Cloud platform to provide
media and entertainment
companies with a range of
integrated solutions to
efficiently and economically
scale video infrastructures
as the media industry
increasingly moves to
markets. Panellists identified
sharpness, immersion and
vivid colour as outstanding
benefits and indicated a willingness to pay up
to €10 a month to benefit from Ultra HD in
the home. Their investment threshold for new
TV sets also matched current price points of
between €1,000 and €3,000 for screens
within the 50” range. While pay- TV
subscribers showed a strong preference for
linear Ultra HD channels, viewers used to free
TV expressed a preference to gain their first
Internet-based delivery.
“Elemental shares
Amazon’s passion for
invention and putting the
customer first,” said Andy
Jassy, SVP of Amazon Web
Services. “Together, we’ll
collaborate on deeper
technology
integrations
and new
infrastructure
offerings so
that media and
entertainment
companies can
evolve their
hybrid and
cloud models
as they
continue to
experience through VOD and occasional,
event-specific offerings.
Eutelsat also presented new forecasts from
GfK on Ultra HD screen sales over the coming
six months and coming five years. GfK
predicts a striking 200 % hike in Ultra HD
screen sales from June to December 2015. It
expects sales to hit the five million mark by
the end of the year (3.6m in Western Europe,
700,000 in Eastern Europe and 600,000 in
the Middle East).
GfK also forecasts that Ultra HD screens in
2020 will represent more than 70% of total
sales across Europe and almost 60% in the
Middle East and North Africa. The annual
volume of screens sold in these markets is
expected by then to have reached 37m.
representing 9.3% of all TV sales in 21 key
markets in these regions. Accumulated sales
will result in a potential installed base of 6.2m
TV homes.
“The price points to drive take-up have
already been reached,” declared Fritz. “There
are no market entry barriers now we’ve
reached the right point.”
innovate their services for
viewers.”
Elemental will continue to
operate its business under its
existing brand, delivering the
full range of solutions for
pay-TV operators, content
programmers, broadcasters,
governments, and
enterprise
customers.
Elemental will also
expand the
integration of its
offerings with AWS,
and through close
collaboration with
AWS, accelerate the
innovation of nextgeneration services
that feature a range
of solutions for customers
leveraging on-premises
assets, hybrid architectures,
and cloud.
“The media and
entertainment industry is at a
unique inflection point and as
a part of Amazon we will be
in an even stronger position
to help our customers delight
their viewers globally,” said
Sam Blackman, co-founder
and CEO of Elemental (left).
“We’re thrilled to have
Amazon supporting our
growth and ongoing
commitment to our
customers’ success.”
Terms of the acquisition
were not disclosed and are
subject to closing conditions.
EUROMEDIA 13