The future of the telcos (online TV content, partnerships:content owners & telcos, service provider )

RAPID TV EVERYWHERE
June 2016

"(...) Partnerships will save the day But this doesn’t mean that the owners of the TV content – whether that’s the channels or broadcasterowned content – have to be in competition with telcos. 

To boost viewing figures and reach cordcutters who have opted out of receiving pay-TV through traditional means, content owners need to consider telcos as an additional delivery mechanism in order to increase the reach of their content. 

Instigating such partnerships directly between content owners and telcos can be time consuming and costly, requiring the telco to sign up each content partner individually. A better tactic is to make use of third party companies that already have these content partnerships in place. 

By partnering instead with a service provider (like Netgem) telcos can gain access to a wide range of channels over traditional linear and OTT feeds through one conduit as a fully managed service, meaning one relationship to manage and one cost to handle.

 It also takes the strain of delivering the service away from the telco and places it with companies designed specifically to deliver these services. 

These partnerships also give telcos an advantage in ensuring that the channel offering they are delivering to their customer is constantly being improved. It’s in the third party service provider’s best interest to ensure the entertainment and information services it is offering are relevant and appealing. The result is that the telco can offer the service to attract new customers, keep existing customers and gain that crucial market share. If consumers are able to access Netflix, Now TV and Wuaki alongside the BBC and ITV through one combined solution, they’re more likely to choose that option than to buy individual packages and hardware at additional expense. 

Telcos are having to address a number of challenges as they look to compete both in their traditional telecoms sectors but also in new areas of business such as TV. Acquiring market share, maintaining it and generating some degree of relevant revenue is difficult. Telcos that don’t take steps to add additional services will lose out to those who are prepared to think differently. With the average person in the UK watching almost four hours of TV every day, providing such services offers a huge market opportunity with real potential for growth. As user demand to consume content on alternative devices to the traditional TV grows, it’s a smart move for telcos to develop such services by building partnerships with the right service providers – bringing internet-based TV content in a cost-effective way to their customers and allowing them to offer more compelling bundles of services to maintain their competitive edge in the market. (...)"

Source:
http://www.rapidtvnews.com/administrator/components/com_rapidtvnews/resources/6274b748151d839bac20837bf8c88bf0-RTVNEverywhereJune2016.pdf