With less than a month to go before the IP&TV Forum North America event, we speak to Dom Stasi, Chief Technology Officer for TVN Entertainment, a US-based provider of VOD services to various cable, telecommunication and satellite TV companies, who will be speaking at the event.

Mr. Stasi leads an engineering and operations team that is responsible for managing over 3,000 hours of content each month and keeping the company's products and services at the forefront of the on-demand industry.  During his tenure at TVN, the company has introduced several interactive technological advancements, including ADONISS - TVN's revolutionary asset management technology - as well as platform-independent VOD, and its ensemble of capabilities and enabling technologies.

TVN Entertainment recently completed a merger with Avail Media, a Virginia-based provider of managed content aggregation services for IPTV deployments.  The combined company is expected to become a major provider of end-to-end content aggregation, management and distribution offerings in the US and abroad.  As part of the same transaction, the US National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) made a strategic investment in Avail Media, at the same time becoming a major shareholder in the newly-combined company.


The US market has the most IPTV deployments of any country in the world, featuring both nationwide operations such as AT&T's U-verse and much smaller operations, often serving rural communities but no less ambitious in terms of content and features.  What role do you see Avail Media and TVN Entertainment playing in this situation?

DS: Your observation that both large scale and smaller operations share similar ambitions in terms of content and features is an important one.  The same holds true of course for every distribution mechanism, but scalability is one area in which IPTV operators enjoy a distinct advantage.  In IPTV size doesn’t matter.  Even the smallest systems are two-way, with every subscriber a wired home run.  If the comprehensive nature of the TVN/Avail combo can address this attribute and provide scaled efficiency at the headend or CLEC, a rural hamlet can enjoy the same rich features and comprehensive content fare as do the largest population centers.  

Avail’s 300 linear channels coupled with TVN’s 4,500 hours of new on-demand content every month is easily the most robust offering in the industry.  The two companies individually, and now collectively, enjoy the lion’s share of affiliations.  That the merged entity remains an independent, service-oriented company means we will continue to tailor our solutions to systems of every size.   
 

How will the recently-concluded merger between Avail Media and TVN Entertainment change the telco TV landscape in the US? 

I cannot consider this merger without the term complementary core competencies top of mind.  Rarely have two organisations come together whose market share, technology, and capabilities combine with such synergy.  This means that the advantages of a single source yet wholly comprehensive provider will be made manifest as never before.  Both operators and content owners will, for the first time, have access to a suite of content genre, selection, management, revision, status, and reporting capabilities comprising the entire linear and on-demand offering within a single control and monitoring environment.   All of these capabilities are supported by a flexible, highly-asymmetric ecosystem that won’t break their CapEx bank.

If I may, I’d like to comment on a related note.  Last year, IP Prime exited the market causing speculation that IPTV deployments were failing and the market was slowing.  Understandably, some operators paused to consider whether they could rely on a service provider for the long haul.  In the early days of VOD, TVN heard this as competitors came and went.  Well, this merger obviates that concern by providing a clear commitment, industry leadership, stability and service extensibility.  We’re here to stay. 


What courses of action do you expect following the recent investment by the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) in Avail Media and the 'major stakeholder' role the NRTC has taken in the newly-combined company?

We’re quite fortunate to have NRTC as an investor and a strategic partner.  Their relationships and experience are unparalleled.  Coupled with the obvious vote of confidence their participation represents, NRTC’s involvement can only help the combined company to serve content owners and multichannel providers in the cable, satellite, and IPTV domains.  I expect NRTC to influence and help insure the provision of a broad spectrum of interactive subscriber services to rural communities, a segment often precluded by the architectural and economic realities of satellite and cable.  That’s community spirit and a very good thing. 


How might the merger influence international distribution of content for IPTV services?  Will the newly-combined company be targeting overseas markets, and if so which?

Yes.  Of this I’m certain.  However, with the merger barely three weeks old, it’s too soon to predict where or when with any accuracy.  What I can say is this.  TVN, through its traditional Morgan-Stanley ownership has always had an interest in understanding the international opportunity.  In fact I accompanied M/S executives on market assessment trips abroad six times in 2007 alone.  The combined company has the platform, relationships and financial strength to expand into international markets.  Our customers already extend into Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.  Now we’re assessing overseas markets and expect to be making some investments in the coming quarters.  Remember, Avail Media’s senior team comes to the game from top management posts at the International Satellite Corporation – Intelsat.  Need I say more? 


On the content side, which areas do you think are overlooked when it comes to launching and growing an IPTV service, and which are essential to meeting viewer requirements?

The cable operators and large telcos (ATT & Verizon) are getting it right.  Consumers want a rich personalised content experience.  Rural telcos are sometimes lacking in a few key areas – local or community content; ethnic linear or on-demand programming appropriate for their market demographics and an Increased library of free on-demand programming. 


Where do you think the IPTV industry needs to focus its attention in order to maintain the momentum and growth expectations it has already built up?

Simple and economical reception and processing architectures are a primary requisite here.  But beyond that, the industry can grow only through comprehensive content offerings – offerings equal or superior to those offered by tough, savvy, experienced competitors.  But, large-scale offerings get out of hand fast.  IPTV operators will need the tools to manage millions of individual content, metadata, diagnostic, auditing, reporting, and security elements, and to do so with simplicity and reliability.  That mandates imposition of and familiarity with intelligent, bellwether systems such as ADONISS.