In Broadcast - February 2018 - 23

23

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 8 - Issue 2 | February 2018

InForm

IBB & OTT Deployments And Progress cont'd...
Users can also subscribe to ToggleIt-First, a catch-up service, to watch
the next five episodes of Mandarin
local serials before they are aired
on TV. Additionally, content can be
bought on an à la carte basis, without
having to subscribe to a basic bundle
of programmes beforehand.
First launched in 2013 as a pure
OTT service or a VOD service, the
disconnects and the inconvenience of
the early Toggle service could have
been factors that did not meet the
expectations of the audience. Linking
traditional broadcast services to
seamless access of content on demand
may have been the key success factor.
From a content point of view, the
service includes direct access to
Toggle's catalogue of more than

Delivery: TVNZ partnered with Brightcove

12,000 hours of Mediacorp TV shows
and Toggle Original content, as well
as a visually rich EPG, which provides
programme information, synopsis and
schedules of recent and upcoming
programmes.
TVNZ - New Zealand
TVNZ in New Zealand with two
other broadcasters - Māori TV and
Media Works - launched HbbTV-based
FreeviewPlus in July 2015.
New Zealand state broadcaster,
TVNZ partnered with Brightcove to
enable the delivery of a cutting edge
Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV
(HbbTV) service.
The service is powered by
Brightcove's Video Cloud HbbTV
solution, the new service, known in
New Zealand as FreeviewPlus,
seamlessly combines linear
broadcast television with
On-Demand online viewing.
Two of the key goals with
FreeviewPlus were to deliver
an engaging experience
and an easy-to-use
platform. It is also
important to ensure
viewers
have
a
consistent experience

across all delivery platforms.
Two other leading free-toair television broadcasters,
Mediaworks and Māori TV
joined the project and they can
potentially reach more than
3.6 million viewers around the
country.
According to Brightcove,
HbbTV is the future of free-toair broadcast television not only in
New Zealand, but worldwide, because
of the amazing viewing experience
that combines over-the-air TV with
on-demand. Currently more than 22
countries have adopted the standard.
Radio Televisyen Malaysia
Over the last 10 years, Radio
Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) has
experimented with various platforms,
such as Multimedia Home Platform,
to expand their digital broadcast
offerings to no avail.
According to RTM, with the help
of Sofia Digital - an internationally
recognised provider of interactive
video and TV solutions from Finland -
they found the answer with the HbbTV
platform and started to run tests
early in 2015 - all of which resulted in
positive outcomes.

Interactive promise:
Radio Televisyen Malaysia

Since then, RTM has been slowly
developing the content for their new
services and revamping their current
online VOD service, 'MyKlik' to adapt
into the HbbTV platform - including
a news widget namely 'Superteks'.
Among the features of HbbTV
include multiple camera angles, with
embedded picture-in-picture; user
controlled information widgets on a TV
display; interactive adverts; live and on
demand streamed content; and many
more.
These will be part of Interactive
Content Creation Centre (ICCC) at RTM.
Head of ICCC believes that the HbbTV
will take off with positive responses
from everyone as the platform allows
them to control their preferred content
and enrich their viewing experience.

Broadcasters Need To Think
Content-Centric

T

he Internet is disrupting the TV
business, writes Johan Vanmarcke,
Managing Director, Asia, MEDIAGENIX.
Broadcasting is no longer about filling
linear channels with content, it's
about getting your content to the right
audience throughout the content's
lifecycle in a way that makes economic
sense. In many cases this still is by
scheduling it on a linear channel, but
more and more it is not.
Not more than a decade ago,
pressure was on the single-channel
broadcasters to offer more content to
smaller segments of the population. In
response, multi-channel broadcasting
quickly became the norm. The next
revolution for linear channels were
catch-up services and PVRs that gave
the viewers more control over when
they watched content.
Nowadays, viewers increasingly turn
to the Internet where social media and
new VOD services offer a wide range

of content. Consumer behaviour is
changing drastically as they adopt new
technology, prompting broadcasters to
keep reinventing themselves and their
business model.
Understanding the viewer is key
to cope or even thrive in this new
world. Live shows, news, sports and
premieres of popular series still draw
viewers in droves to the 'A' screen. The
volume of such must-see 'live' content
is limited.
To fill the rest of their viewing time
consumers are turning more and more
to on-demand content.
So how should broadcasters offer
their content to the viewers? The
answer is: in as many ways as possible.
Decisions will have to be made from
the content's point of view, no longer
by only analysing which loyal viewers
are watching their channels
at what time of day. The
audience has grown too

diverse, too mobile, with so many
video sources at their disposal.
Broadcasters will need to have a
closer look at the content they can
offer that fits their mission, vision and
business model. What rights do they
have on the content? What distribution
platforms are available and through
which technique can they serve their
business goals best with each title?
Maybe it is on a premium pay service,

or on Facebook or YouTube, maybe
on a linear channel or by selling the
content to another company. Live
sports events and blockbuster movies,
gameshows and soaps, public service
or commercial... all will require a
different approach.
This change will require broadcasters
to reinvent their business, and
WHATS'ON, the VOD/Linear BMS by
MEDIAGENIX, will help them do just
that. With WHATS'ON broadcasters
have a single tool for both VOD
and linear scheduling and content
management. Its powerful rights and
media management functionality is
devised to tackle today's complexity
with ease. The result is that
broadcasters can efficiently run their
mix of VOD and Linear business,
with the flexibility to incorporate
new services and channels. Yes,
broadcasters can meet the needs of
the future consumer head on.

Johan Vanmarcke
http://www.inbroadcast.com http://www.abu.org.my/ http://www.abu.org.my/ https://www.mediagenix.tv/en/ https://www.mediagenix.tv/en/ https://www.mediagenix.tv/en/
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of In Broadcast - February 2018
