Independent Operator of the Year:Northern Exposure|Cable’s Last Frontier

Though legacy QAM-based video platforms will stick around for years to come, cable operators big and small are already migrating to live, on-demand and even cloud DVR services delivered over a more flexible internet-protocol path.

GCI, honored as the 2017 Independent Operator of the Year by Multichannel News, has already begun to blaze that trail in the wilds of Alaska, starting with video-on-demand.

“I don’t think there’s anybody in the operator space that I’m aware of that … doesn’t believe that IP is the future for video,” Duncan Whitney, vice president of product management at GCI, said.

It’s a tricky proposition: GCI will have to push ahead to new platforms while supporting a legacy QAM video architecture that has significant headend, advertising and data management implications.

“You can’t flash-cut from legacy QAM video over to IP for every customer overnight. We have to be able to maintain both products,” Whitney said. “The challenge for us smaller operators is to trying to meet the modern customer need while not stranding our legacy customers who don’t want change. If you force change too quickly, you’re going to upset one side while you’re attempting to please the other.”

Adjusting to Changing Habits
But he also acknowledged that consumer viewing habits are changing as subscribers become more accustomed to options that allow on-demand access on a multitude of mobile and TV-connected devices.

To that end, GCI recently agreed to deploy Evolution Digital’s managed eVUE-TV IPTV platform in “select service regions,” including all markets serviced by GCI where VOD is available.

GCI’s eVUE-TV deployment is expected to begin this fall, and follows one announced last November in which GCI agreed to deploy the eBOX, a hybrid IP/QAM device from Evolution Digital that integrates linear TV, over-the-top apps, pay-per-view service and VOD on a common platform tied together with a TiVo-powered interface.

GCI, which ended Q1 with 106,100 basic video subs, will later expand that IP VOD offering to its more widely deployed base of IP-capable DVRs that also run the TiVo interface/platform.

GCI already offers a robust VOD service using QAM transport, but the move to IP-based VOD is “considered a first step in their [IP video] transition plans,” Marc Cohen, executive vice president of sales at Evolution Digital, said.

GCI’s QAM VOD platform will likely remain in place for as long as there are QAM-only boxes still in the field. But the transition will eventually have GCI move all of its VOD under the IP umbrella and to take more advantage of the capacity that’s fueling its DOCSIS network. That transition will also enable GCI to move on-demand services to a more advanced interface that offers the kind of look and feel and navigational features that consumers are getting with popular OTT services such as Netflix.

As IP video transitions go, VOD offers a great place to start, as it can be offered on a fresh interface and on both DVR and non-DVR boxes with IP capabilities, Chris Egan, Evolution Digital’s CEO and co-founder, said. It also opens new doors to dynamic ad insertion.

And GCI’s rollout of eVUE-TV eventually will extend beyond the set-top box. By leveraging IP transport, GCI will also lay the foundation for future offerings that, for example, will allow it to extend its VOD service to an array of other types of devices, including smartphones, tablets and PCs.

“We’re setting up ourselves architecturally to be able support customers so they can consume the content on whatever device they want as we work out the rights issues,” Whitney said.

eVUE-TV also provides the basis for future phases that could include linear channels as well as network DVR implementations.

On the linear side, GCI could create an IP-powered avenue for TV on authenticated mobile apps or to set-top boxes. And with proper rights secured, the underpinning technology could also become the foundation for operators to develop and deploy slimmed-down, OTT-based video packages that could be tailored to cord-cutters or to broadband customers who have yet to add pay TV to their bundle, while also employing a bring-your-own-device model.

OTT in the Content Mix
At the moment, GCI is embracing different sources of OTT content, starting with its rollout of the TiVo platform, which provides unified access to GCI’s video service alongside services such as Hulu, Netflix and YouTube.

Focusing on cord-cutters and cord-nevers, GCI has also teamed up with Sling TV on a unique promotion whereby GCI’s broadband customers can get a 30-day free trial of Dish Network’s OTT TV service (Sling TV regularly offers a seven-day free trial).

“We want to enable customers to have good experiences and get what they want, whether it’s our video product or somebody else’s,” Whitney said.

That promotion, which is being marketed online and featured at GCI stores that also offer Roku players and Apple TV devices that can run Sling TV, is “part of a recognition that there’s a multitude of ways customers may want to have a video experience,” he said. “We’re trying to modernize the video product offering so that it’s not a one-size-fits-all offering for the differing types of customers that exist today.”

GCI has also been speeding up the pipes that can deliver that OTT content as it now offers service at 1 Gbps across the bulk of its fiber and HFC plant.

Evolution Digital and Conax announced that Conax will provide its multi-DRM solution for Evolution Digital’s eVUE-TV platform, which is being made available on the National Cable Television Cooperative’s (NCTC) VU-IT! Platform.

eVUE-TV is a managed IP platform for linear and on-demand video, as well as network DVR and “catch-up” TV features, that Evolution Digital has been pitching to tier 2/3 U.S. cable operators. Last year, Evolution announced that eVUE-TV is the first offering to be introduced as an option for VU-IT!,” a platform that includes a solution for backoffice integration, OTT apps and “enhanced services” that enable IP-based linear and VOD services.

RELATED: Evolution Digital Notches Another NCTC Deal

Support for Conax’s content security system will enable partners to support multi-DRM technologies that utilize PlayReady, Widevine, FairPlay and Nagra PRM, as well as THE next generation Conax Connected Access security client that combines CA/IPTV/DRM functionalities, they said.

They added that the Conax Contego security back-end has been integrated with the eVUE-TV platform in hosted and on-premises models, and that the platform meets the MovieLabs Enhanced Content protection requirements for 4K/UHD.

“We have partnered with Conax to offer a best of breed comprehensive content security solution to our NCTC members with eVUE-TV,” Brent Smith, president and chief technology officer of Evolution Digital, said in a statement. “As cable operators move to IP distribution and begin offering a wide-range of content that can be viewed anywhere, Evolution Digital is committed to delivering content securely and providing operators with a low cost and hassle-free solution that eliminates complexities of technology integration.”

Evolution Digital said it has reached a deal with the National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC) to distribute its eVUE-TV IP video-on-demand service to the NCTC’s membership of independent operators.

eVUE-TV, a platform introduced by Colorado-based Evolution in February, supplies “thousands” of hours of movies and TV shows on-demand while also integrating IP linear and VOD across a unified interface. Evolution’s future plans for the platform include cloud-based services, including a cloud DVR.

Evolution noted that eVUE-TV is the first offering to be introduced as an option for NCTC members for “VU-IT!,” a new platform that includes a solution for backoffice integration, OTT apps and “enhanced services” to enable IP-based linear and VOD services.

VU-IT will initially be available on TiVo-powered devices, such as Evolution’s recently re-branded, hybrid IP/QAM “eBOX,” but will also be deployed on other platforms, as well as mobile devices, Evolution said. Notably, GLDS announced Monday (July 18) that it had completed the integration of VU-IT! With its own BroadHub billing and customer management system, with Vyve on board as the first operator to deploy the integrated GLDS/NCTC solution. Vyve and TiVo announced their original partnership in February 2014.

As for the eVUE-TV approach, on-demand content is uploaded from the cable operator’s local VOD and transcoded, enabling an “exact replication” of the MSO’s VOD catalog in IP.

“Today’s agreement ensures that members of NCTC have access to the best on-demand content on one, easy-to-use platform at a price point that makes sense to the operator,” Marc Cohen, executive vice president of sales at Evolution Digital, said in a statement. “As a disruptor in the pay-TV industry, we are committed to driving growth for NCTC members and, with the deployment of eVUE-TV, we will provide an unparalleled viewing experience to customers.”

“We are pleased to offer Evolution Digital’s eVUE-TV on our platform, providing cable operators a low-cost solution to deliver VOD,” added Rich Fickle, CEO and president at NCTC.  “Evolution Digital continues to be a key partner for NCTC, from its pioneering of DTAs to now driving solutions that enable IP video services.”

Evolution’s latest NCTC distribution deal, announced ahead of next week’s Independent Show in Orlando, follows one with the co-op announced in February that centers on Evolution’s hybrid set-top box.

Among operators, WideOpenWest plans to use the Evolution/TiVo eBOX combo to underpin a new service called “SW!VEL” that will feature a skinny TV bundle that includes the major broadcast TV networks and a suite of OTT apps. WOW also plans to deploy eVUE and has put a cloud DVR on its product roadmap.

Update: Evolution’s agreement with WOW is separate from Evolution’s arrangements with the NCTC. But Evolution has “a number of irons in the fire” with tier-2 operators that are looking to take advantage of the NCTC accords, Brent Smith, Evolution Digital’s president and CTO, explained. Though Evolution will focus on the combination of its eBOX and eVUE platforms, he noted that eVUE is agnostic in the sense that the platform can be combined with other types of set-tops and CPE. 

Evolution Digital and WideOpenWest (WOW) have forged a distribution deal that will enable the operator to offer IP-VOD services alongside its  live TV offering.

WOW, Evolution said, is the first operator to deploy eVUE-TV, an IP video platform unveiled in February that offers “thousands of hours” of video-on-demand content.  Evolution introduced eVUE following its acquisition of IP-VOD specialist i-Velozity, a move that will help Evolution’s partners offer their own VOD and live TV services via a unified platform.

WOW will integrate eVUE-TV with its new “SW!VEL” service for the eBOX, a hybrid IP/QAM set-top that is powered by TiVo’s software, user interface and search platform. Evolution has also developed a version of eBOX that uses “eGUIDE,”  an interface that uses Rovi’s Fan TV platform.  TiVo and Rovi are in the process of merging under a $1.1 billion deal announced in late April. 

At last month’s INTX show in Boston, WOW chief technology officer Cash Hagen hinted at the operator’s next-gen video plans.

He said WOW operator will use the eBox to targeted a segment of the market that wants a slimmed down pay TV package. During the initial phase of the rollout, SW!VEL, he said, will include the broadcast basic channels and integrated OTT apps. Phase II, slated for a summer launch, will add IP-VOD to the mix (via eVUE), and Phase III, expected to launch early next year, will add a cloud DVR service.

“With the rise of OTT streaming service providers, eVUE-TV puts the power back into the cable operators’ hands with a full library of leading content that’s easily accessible and navigational for the consumer,” Evolution Digital president and CTO Brent Smith said, in a statement. “We are extremely pleased that WOW! is taking their entertainment experience offering to its customers one step further by offering an instant and affordable platform so viewers can take advantage of the full breadth of WOW!’s video offering.”

"Now, with eVUE-TV, our customers can easily find their favorite content to ‘binge watch’ from start to finish, without having to switch inputs and streaming providers to access that content,” Hagen added.

Evolution Digital, a Colorado-based company focused on independent MVPDs, has introduced eVUE-TV, an IP video platform that features “thousands” of hours of aggregated VOD content that can be mixed with live cable TV offerings.

The introduction of eVUE-TV, a product that arrives after last year’s acquisition of IP-VOD specialist i-Velozity and is part of a rebranding, will help cable operators deliver popular VOD movies and TV shows, plus live TV, on a unified platform, the company said.

eVUE-TV offers new release movies, shows from leading cable network, including shows and series from premium networks such as HBO and Showtime, and enables access on a wide range of devices, including set-tops, tablets and PCs.

eVUE-TV, the company added, provides partners with a low cost approach for IP linear and VOD content via Evolution Digital’s central content distribution hub in Chicago, or through a distributed platform inside the cable operator’s content delivery network.

Evolution Digital said eVUE-TV will launch a new user interface for multiple devices in the “coming weeks,” noting that the platform can present and recommend content using viewing preferences and viewing habits.

“Evolution Digital is pioneering technology in the cable industry to fit the needs of the consumer by providing cable operators cost-effective solutions to increase revenue and stabilize retention,” Brent Smith, Evolution Digital’s president and chief technology officer, said in a statement. “With eVUE-TV, cable providers can now combine the most popular Video on Demand titles with their live TV offerings onto one seamless and easy-to-use platform while avoiding costly infrastructure upgrades.”