DIRECTV is trialling VOD to the DVR; BSkyB also ready for on-demand

Interactive satellite

US operator DIRECTV exemplifies the efforts satellite platforms are making to become more interactive. The company only started shipping interactive-capable set-top boxes in 2004 and downloaded the NDS middleware to support more user interaction last November. But in the fourth quarter 2006 it will introduce HDTV capable DVRs (MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 Part 10 decoders) with 160Gb of hard drive capacity and make 50 hours of storage available for DIRECTV designated content. This could include movies using the push-VOD model or long-form advertising.

This DVR also has an Ethernet connection so it can be hooked into a broadband network and the company is currently trialling Video on Demand, using a pull model that allows viewers to request movies that are then delivered across the broadband network and ‘cached’ onto the DVR hard drive.

A spokesman for DIRECTV points out: “Over 5 million DIRECTV subscribers have broadband in the home and you can use this DVR with whichever broadband provider the customer chooses. It enables us to augment our satellite delivery, conserving satellite bandwidth and providing a robust return path. It will allow customers to have greater access to our content.”

The VOD content will be downloaded as MPEG-4 [Part 10] video files and stored on the hard drive ready to view. Content will be integrated into the programme guide so that it is listed with other SD and HD content that users have recorded on their DVRs. The DVR is arguably the most important weapon in the satellite armoury today and in the UK, BSkyB is predicting that one-quarter of its subscriber homes will have one by 2010. Sky is preparing to make its DVR remotely programmable using 3G mobile phones and that new level of user control is expected to be possible this year.

In terms of VOD, the company already offers movies over broadband connections to the PC (Sky by Broadband) but says it is “looking to offer customers VOD through the set-top box”.

Unified networks

BSkyB will not deny the possibility of introducing push-VOD but VOD via broadband to the DVR is also a distinct possibility given that its next-generation of set-tops, including HD receivers, will be shipping with an Ethernet port, and one of the company’s preferred suppliers, NDS, has developed a hybrid middleware that can combine broadband and satellite networks within both the set-top box and the service provider’s backoffice. And that is without mentioning the obvious: that BSkyB acquired the UK DSL service provider Easynet in January and has already told investors it will introduce IPTV from 2007 onwards.

BSkyB triple-play

BSkyB has gone further than most major satellite operators in preparing for a two-way, on-demand world with the Easynet acquisition. According to a spokesman, “We chose Easynet to take us into a new telephony future and enable us to offer a triple-play and quad-play in the home.” Broadband services are scheduled to be launched later this summer.

Meanwhile, South African satellite and Pay TV provider MultiChoice is trialling IPTV in Johannesburg (400 users using Telkom’s ADSL network) as it prepares to offer “pure VOD” in 2007. The company is also trying to cope with demand for its DVR (introduced last November) and testing GSM-based modems to provide a more reliable return path than current modems, which are supposed to be unplugged in thunderstorms, of which there are many in South Africa.

Like all these satellite operators, MultiChoice is also looking at how it can make its platform more advertiser-friendly and is considering long-form adverts that are downloaded into the DVR overnight. Both BSkyB and DIRECTV are also trying to exploit DVR for advertising and giving advertisers the opportunity to link linear spots into long-form promotional videos. BSkyB ran 724 interactive advertising campaigns last year.\