Indian Cable MSOs partner with Corpus Media Labs to monetize their networks
Hyderabad, India, Jan 15 2015 - Corpus Media Labs, a digital TV middleware and VAS platform company, has announced that it is enabling Cable MSOs to monetise their networks through value added services. Cable MSOs such as Manthan Broadband, JPR Cable, ABS Group and MIRAI Communications have deployed its TV middleware solutions including SD, HD and Hybrid variants to take advantage of its revenue generation capabilities.
Corpus's iPlatform middleware and VAS value delivery platform is pre-integrated with major chipsets such as ALI, ST Microelectronics, MSTAR, Broadbcom and HiSilicon and is ready to deploy. As part of the deployments, the iPlatform has been integrated with CA Systems such as Irdeto, Sumavision, NSTV and Gospell. Corpus STB middleware client provides operators with rich UI framework and VAS SDK, optimized DVB engine and enhanced metadata search and recommendation engine.
The key benefits of this highly cost efficient solutions is that it enhances customer experience while considerably reduce time-to-market for delivering new value added services. "New form Advertisement", "Interactive content", "TV Shopping", "Video on Demand", "Catch up TV", and , "Multiscreen OTT" are some of the VAS possible with less memory footprint for Hybrid, HD and SD set-top-boxes.
Corpus Media Labs, CEO, Sachin Tummala adds "Indian digital TV operators are looking to differentiate, provide high quality customer experience and increase the revenue per subscriber and this exactly what we intend to achieve with the our Interactive TV Middleware solutions." Also we would like to take this opportunity to invite Cable MSOs to visit our Stand No. C-17 at upcoming Convergence to witness our solutions and revenue possibilities and partner with us to go beyond digitization.
About Corpus Media Labs
Corpus Media Labs Pvt. Ltd. was founded in 1999 as a Technology Company with a vision to offer monetization solutions to the Media and Entertainment domain. Its flagship product suite, Corpus iPlatform is a unique value delivery platform designed for MSOs. The platform consists of state of the art client framework which enables rapid and rich EPG and UI development, feature enhancement and customization optimized for different STB hardware configuration. MSO can start with standard VAS and gradually enable more advanced feature and premium VAS. The platform also includes the multi-screen application framework to enable operator branded OTT application on second screen devices like tablets, smart phones and PC.
Interactive TV Services with Corpus Hybrid TV and Multi-screen Platform
With Corpus Hybrid and OTT Middleware platform, Cable MSOs can offer on demand content along with regular broadcast channels. CableTV Subscribers can browse and search for content, set reminders, record content or schedule recording for later viewing. While they can watch Live TV channels of their choice, they can catch up with programs that they have missed or just watch content of their interest on demand on mobile devices along with Home TV.
Quickly Add Applications: You can quickly add new applications on your Hybrid STB to provide more entertainment to your subscribers. Below are few sample applications
YouTube : Your Subscribers can lean back and watch YouTube content on their HomeTV
Bundle WebTV and Internet Radio: Allow access to Live channels and radio on the internet
Video on demand and Catch up TV: Give your subscribers the option to watch content of their whenever they want to and never miss their favorite shows
Provide Browsing, Search options and Recommendations to users: Give the power to your subscribers to browse for programs and search with program name, Genre, actor name, set favorites, program reminders and schedule recording. Through our Audience measurement engine, you will know what your customers are watching and recommend the relevant content
Home Media support: Your subscribers can now enjoy watching their content stored in external devices. They can organize their content, watch movies, images and play music of their choice
Second screen: Now let them watch content anywhere anytime on their mobile devices. You can keep prompting to watch relevant programs and remind them to watch new arrivals in VoD, Catch up etc
Consistent experience: Provide consistent experience to subscribers across multiple devices including Android, IOS and Windows devices
Time for Cable MSOs to take a controlled Migration path to IP.
Even as the digitization is happening gradually, India is witnessing the growth of several OTT platforms offering music, movies, catch up TV and also Live TV. Simply put, emergence of Cable-like businesses on the "cloud". Will this lead to cord-cutting? Seems no for now, as studies show that online content viewing is only an additive, rather than a substitute. However, it will be a lost opportunity if Cable MSOs cannot take a share of this, despite being in the best of positions in terms of having subscribers, in-house content and broadcaster relationships as opposed to new OTT service startups. For these reasons, a multi-screen approach is almost a must-have and the best part is it can be a phased approach.
Offer Hybrid HD, instead of HD
MSOs can start with Hybrid TV which uses existing cable infrastructure for broadcast and IP return path for on-demand services on TV. They can offer "HD Hybrid STB" instead of a "HD STB", for their subscribers who want to upgrade from Standard definition. MSOs in India are already evaluating STB options available in the market and Corpus is deploying its Hybrid TV
middleware for few of them. It is powering up True Video on Demand, WebTV, Youtube and Catchup TV apart from other IP services. MSOs have the flexibility to offer Subscription or Transactional VOD or AD Supported VOD. The source can be operator hosted or external sources. With Global search options, users can directly find their content of choice and get recommendations. Integrated with EPG Data providers, actor based and keyword search are also possible. MSOs now have the best of both worlds and need to maximize by offering two-way interactive services and compete with DTH.
Do more with Hybrid STB like Media Gateway
Going beyond, MSOs can offer the functionalities of a Media gateway with Corpus Hybrid Middleware. We have exploited the capabilities of SoCs and optimized hardware acceleration to enhance AV performance (eg: Lip sync), HD Video playing speed and Implemented FastRTV for Fast channel zapping. Here are few highlights of advance features what users can get:
Impulsive and scheduled program recording
To watch recorded (STB PVR) content on companion devices
The smart remote control feature enables viewers to use a tablet or smart phone to control Set-top Boxes in their home. A tablet or smart phone may be used to pause, trick-play, control volume, etc.
Shift video playback between devices. Users can watch on-demand content on their personal devices and then shift it to the big screen at their convenience
Home media support: Access pictures, movies and play music on TV and mobile devices
Widgets: News feed, Stock updates, Sports score, Weather etc
Integrate with Social Media
Going over the top
Reach out to more subscribers within and beyond your network and offer your subscribers the convenience to watch TV anywhere anytime. The Corpus iPlatform TV anywhere solution is built to support adaptive streaming protocols such as HDS, Smooth streaming and HLS live streaming to deliver the optimal video quality to subscribers while taking into account varying network conditions and device types. It is also integrated with payment gateway to allow in-app purchases instantly. Corpus powered android and IOS mobile client applications are already available on IOS App Store and Google Play. Users can Search and browse for programs, set reminders remotely, resume watching content from where they left off; pause and play live TV channels and get notifications of new arrivals etc. MSOs can offer content on subscription or one time purchase basis. The service is activated instantly and subscribers can start watching on demand.
To summarize
It is becoming more common for an MSO to operate heterogeneous delivery networks and so the need middleware solutions that can unify services across cable and IP and allow quick roll out of new services over multiple pathways to multiple types of devices. This is one of the key strengths of Corpus. It has expertise in deploying for both classical broadcast scenarios and emerging areas such as OTT or hybrid. Hence with Corpus solutions MSOs can achieve:
Service differentiation
Sachin Tummala
Corpus Media Labs, CEO
We have evolved along with the roadmap of MSO on the technology front and have built all the Middleware variants of SD, HD, Hybrid and IP to deliver the right customer experience. We are keen to support the migration of Cable MSOs and enable them to adapt to the changes in how people consume content and their need to be fully engaged in the TV experience
Mirai Communications Deploys Corpus iPlatform to Monetise its Digital Cable Network
Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
In its endeavor to monetize its digital cable Network, Mirai Communications, a leading cable MSO group has deployed iPlatform, an interactive TV middleware from Corpus Media Labs. Mirai can now generate additional revenues through value added services including Timeshift TV, PVR recording, EPG advertising, Interactive channels and applications apart from enhancing customer experience across multiple screens including Set top boxes (HD, SD, Hybrid ) and mobile devices.
Operationally, Mirai can benefit from Plug and Play STB installation, auto tuning of new services, upgrade STBs periodically through OTA. Their Subscribers can now Pause Live TV, set Program Reminders, Favorites, select preferred language and Schedule recording among several other features. Also EPG background UI can be dynamically changed to enhance customer experience.
"Corpus has optimized the Middleware for low memory STBs to deliver rich UI experience to our subscribers. We have better control of our operations and in terms of service upgrades and software upgrades. We are now gearing up to add value added services and open new revenue streams through subscription and advertising" said Sreeram, CTO of Mirai Communications.
Corpus has built AD delivery engine to schedule and targets ads based on set parameters to help advertisers get maximum benefit. EPG server, Software OTA server and Channel playout solution to enable operator reduce costs in launching Value added services quickly. These solutions will be show cased at the upcoming SCAT Exhibition, scheduled from 5th to 7th November in Mumbai. Operators can meet our team at our stand no. F3.
"We are happy to deliver in line with Mirai's vision to create an engaging cable TV service network. We have open SDK for our middleware to reduce porting and integration efforts and achieve greater speed to market" mentioned Sachin Tummala, CEO, Corpus Media Labs.
About Corpus Media Labs:
Corpus Media Labs Pvt. Ltd. was founded in 1999 as a Technology Company with a vision to offer monetization solutions to the Media & Entertainment domain. Its flagship product suite, Corpus iPlatform is a unique value delivery platform designed for MSOs and OTT content providers. The platform consists of state of the art client framework which enables rapid and rich EPG and UI development, feature enhancement and customization optimized for different STB hardware configuration. MSO can start with standard VAS and gradually enable more advanced feature and premium VAS. The platform also includes the multi-screen application framework to enable operator branded OTT application on second screen devices like tablets, smart phones and PC.
Media Contact Details:
Chittibabu Pothana
Corpus
Head - Product Marketing