News

Next Gen TV

12/11/2009
New television services benchmark
Next Gen TV


In its latest market report, IDATE delivers its analysis of the issues tied to the proliferation of innovations that allow viewers to watch TV programmes on the Web, based on a detailed benchmark of the offers being rolled out by players devoted to innovative TV solutions: offers, features, distribution, content, prices and consumption. An operational profile provides a synthesis of the key innovations in terms of content, services, software and devices.

Innovation in the area of TV services is part of a long-term trend of the convergence of classic television and the Internet, which is being shaped by the following developments: 

· in terms of consumption:
  - increase in time-shifted viewing and more personalised content consumption
  - portability of the content
  - consumption that combines broadcast, personal and Web content

·  in terms of access:
  - growing number of image distribution solutions and network ubiquity
  - growing role of the device as the place where content is aggregated

·  in terms of financing:
  - fragmentation of ad revenue
  - free offers that undermine financing for pay-TV programmes. 

These developments are dismantling TV’s traditional value chain, and especially content distribution: the growing complexity of the technical distribution of content is stimulating the emergence of new intermediaries, providers of technical solutions (STBs, software). In some cases, these intermediaries play a central role in the commercial distribution process.

The conclusions reached by these comparisons allow us to obtain a precise analytical grid of innovation in the realm of TV services, which helps sketch out the future shape of television services: