By Olivier Biot, Solution Marketing Manager, NAGRA
Set-top-boxes have for decades spearheaded the way traditional operators have offered their big screen services to consumers within a branded environment that displays and promotes their content offering. But in today’s world where the Smart TV is becoming the main access point for streaming subscription services, is it time for a new breed of pay-TV service to emerge and revolutionize the industry?
This new solution leverages the consumer’s Smart TV and provides the same benefits as a set-top box but without all the disadvantages; enabling a much simpler customer journey, a faster time-to-market, a drastically reduced subscriber acquisition cost and an optimized distribution and provisioning process with a zero-touch product approach. And for consumers, they can now enjoy their favorite pay-TV service through the same remote control as they use for their streaming services, but in a way that still provides the same, operator branded experience exactly as they’d find on their set-top box.
With the number of available streaming services seemingly increasing monthly, the way consumers access and watch content is changing; meaning that pay-TV operators are looking at new and engaging ways through which to remain a key part of a subscriber’s viewing experience. One such way has been to extend the range of devices services are available through and which offer frictionless access to content through slick user experiences.
But while OTT is undeniably gaining ground, Telcos and pay-TV operators are also looking at adapting their IPTV offer around those streaming services, with super-aggregation being at the center of their strategy. This enables them to provide more ways for consumers to interact with their brand and the associated range of digital entertainment services they provide – with a further benefit of extending their addressable audience reach.
As part of that transformation, and with the emergence of smarter and more powerful Smart TVs, direct-to-TV solutions are now enabling Telcos and pay-TV operators to provide an operator branded experience directly to the consumer’s big screen without the need for a set-top box. This was first seen with traditional CAM modules, or its modern USB CAM dongle equivalent that directly plugs into a TV, but the ultimate is to enable the Smart TV directly and remove the need for any additional device or dongle. Innovative solutions like NAGRA’s TVkey Cloud combine the capabilities of a Smart TV with NAGRA’s unique cardless hardware security to deliver a “one remote” experience to the consumer, without the need for any external device or modules. This simplifies the related logistic and distribution pain points. These direct-to-TV solutions also offer a unique opportunity to grow an operator subscriber base and extend its reach without deploying new devices by just enabling compatible Smart TVs.
Further, with the broader support by Smart TV manufacturers of standardized technology such as HbbTV, it is now possible to provide a multiscreen experience with an operator branded experience across set-top box, Smart TVs, and multiscreen devices; harmonizing both traditional broadcast solutions and streaming services into one cohesive experience for both consumer and operator.
2022 is set to be a pivotal year for direct-to-TV solutions with new deployments that will undoubtedly keep raising more awareness. We’ve already seen the first syndication of Sky Glass to Foxtel and Vewd launched the first SaaS-based Operator TV with Vestel. At NAGRA, a number of our customers are following the path of HD+ in Germany and Ghana, with our integrated, operator focused Smart TV solution, TVkey. For today’s operators intent on capitalizing on content aggregation, extending audience reach and utilizing the power of Smart TVs to deliver frictionless access to their service, direct-to-TV solutions provide the perfect answer.
To learn more request a demonstration or to continue the conversation, contact one of our direct-to-TV experts here and see how easy it is to extend your service proposition through NAGRA direct-to-TV solutions.