The Alcatel-Lucent Multiscreen Video Platform is a next-generation PayTV solution that enables cable operators and telcos to reach more subscribers, devices and locations with cost-effective video services. It enables the delivery of PayTV services beyond the service provider STB to consumer owned, connected devices such as smartphones, tablets, connected TVs, game consoles and OTT devices. By moving key STB functionality such as DVR into the cloud, combined with unicast IP delivery, it opens the way to new customer experiences around their valued linear content — fulfilling the demand for watching it when and where they want. Multiscreen Restart TV, Catch up TV and backwards EPG are initial end-user hits. Blend them with emerging online innovations and service providers can captivate consumers with a more personal, seamless and social experience across every connected device.
A modular solution, the Multiscreen Video Platform can adapt to any existing environment and can extend and enhance any PayTV platform to target new screens. It offers a scalable, service-oriented architecture and agile development practices that can speed service introduction and streamline release cycles. It leverages web-based technologies to improve operational efficiencies, adapts to changing consumer usage behavior and exploits evolving device capabilities.
With this solution, service providers can differentiate from over-the-top offers, boost loyalty and increase revenue by delivering compelling linear and on demand video experiences that delight subscribers and rights holders.
Benefits
Today’s consumers want TV and video on every device. The Multiscreen Video Platform helps service providers deliver and differentiate at the lowest possible cost.
- Increased media service revenues
- Boost loyalty and revenue by offering compelling experiences on more devices and in more locations
- Boost premium content consumption by bringing the discovery of the catalogue to tablets and PC while keeping the viewing on the big screen
- Capture new subscribers with services that reach beyond the physical network or leverage innovative business models such as freemium services.
- Monetize video content through advanced video commerce capabilities and merchandising support that help create new video packages and pricing offers for subscribers
- Lower capital and operations costs
- Limit start-up costs by leveraging a cloud-based solution
- Improve network capacity use with on-net content delivery network (CDN) technologies
- Improve operational efficiencies leveraging web-based technologies
- Enriched user experience
- Personal: Offer a more meaningful and relevant content delivery, recommendation and purchasing experience
- Seamless: Extend a superior consumption experience for linear and on demand TV and video services across every device
- Social: Connect the content experience to social communities and conversations
- New opportunities from open innovation
- Speed time to market with a hosted solution, service-oriented architecture and pre-integrated modules
- Streamline development and release cycles with a solution backed by agile development and lean delivery
- Ease third-party integration with comprehensive REST APIs and toolkits
- Improved content delivery
- Improve quality of service, cost optimization and bandwidth using an on-net CDN that combines the best of IP streaming innovation with increased awareness of network conditions and customer context
- Provide high video quality and fast access no matter how users choose to get their content
- Lower complexity and cost and raise QoE by combining on-net CDN and http adaptive streaming with flexible QoS and network engineering
Components
The Multiscreen Video Platform combines the unique strengths of Alcatel-Lucent, a leader in IP networking, mobile media and IPTV, and thePlatform® a leading provider of online video management and publishing solutions.
The solution includes three main components, which can be deployed individually, in combination, or as part of a comprehensive multiscreen solution:
- The Multiscreen Cloud manages content, commerce, service offers and subscribers. A cloud-based command and control center, it interacts with other solution components to publish and manage access to video assets. It facilitates commerce between service and content providers with video and metadata management, advanced merchandising options, automated publishing, rights enforcement and business modeling capabilities. And it eases offer and subscriber management by building and maintaining detailed profiles for every user. These profiles support authentication, payment, preference, audience management, advertising and customer service activities.
- The Multiscreen Delivery prepares live and on-demand content and delivers it to end users. This component is responsible for the encoding, transcoding, packaging, protection (DRM, encryption) and storage of video. It includes a cloud DVR function for time shifted TV services (rewind, start-over, catch up, network PVR). It also allows service providers to manage their own content delivery networks as an alternative to shared third-party CDNs.With the Enhanced Video Experience, the Velocix CDN combines the best of IP streaming innovation with increased awareness of network conditions and customer context to help extend traditional pay TV offers to IP connected devices.
- The Multiscreen Clients are dedicated applications that support video purchasing and playback on smartphones, tablets, PCs, STB and connected TVs. The Multiscreen Video Platform offers out-of-the-box clients, a development toolkit or fully documented APIs that give service providers the basis for developing compelling applications and video portals that enhance the user experience. For example, service providers can quickly and seamlessly integrate electronic program guide (EPG), search, recommendation and personalization features to help subscribers discover and watch live TV on many different devices.
