Telus among first to use new Ericsson TV interface

Ericsson AB announced on Thursday that its cloud-based TV platform, MediaFirst, is now commercially available to operators and content providers, noting that Telus Corp. will be utilizing the service to enhance service for its TV subscribers. Ben Huang, vice-president of marketing at Ericsson, said in a phone interview that the software is provided to TV operators to help deliver and integrate services across various platforms such as mobile phones, tablets and TV screens. He added that the software provides content providers with analytics on consumer behaviour so that content is catered to what the consumer watches, whether it’s paid TV or over-the-top (OTT) content. “When you pull up your phone or your iPad or you turn on your TV, you will start to see really personalized TV,” Huang said. Huang said that the new platform provides a consumer interface for both OTT content and conventional TV. He said that Telus, and several other operators, currently use a different platform from Ericsson called Mediaroom, which delivers IPTV content and is more in line with how traditional pay TV services run. “When we talk about MediaFirst, it allows operators to compete with the most cutting-edge paid-TV providers as well as compete with the cutting-edge OTT providers,” Huang said. “We take the best of what you have with paid TV and the best of what you’re seeing on the website and bring the two together. … It's what we call paid TV at web speed.” Ericsson said in a press release that after MediaFirst was showcased during the International Broadcasting Convention last year, Telus took part in initial trials. It said Telus has successfully completed the trials and plans to use the platform for its Optik TV service. “Ericsson MediaFirst places Telus at the forefront of TV innovation, equipping us to deliver a truly seamless, personalized and engagement TV experience on any device, wherever and whenever,” Ibrahim Gedeon, chief technology officer at Telus, said in Ericsson's release. “As our trial of Ericsson MediaFirst has progressed, Telus has seen firsthand how the shift to the cloud and an agile development model can help increase speed and agility to power the most innovative TV offerings.” Ericsson spokeswoman Patricia MacLean said in an email that Telus is the first customer of MediaFirst anywhere in the world that Ericsson is publicly disclosing, though others are testing the technology. One of the features of the new platform is its ability to be integrated on all devices while maintaining the same interface, Huang said. Customers can watch their TV service on their iPad, mobile phone or on their TV screen with access to the same content. “So let’s say you walk into the room with your phone, you don’t have to turn on the TV to login, it will know it’s you because it senses your phone in the proximity of the TV and, if you wanted, you will automatically be able to serve up content ,” Huang said. “We believe there should be a connected thread of experience no matter where you watch it, so all these devices are equal in our eyes.” Gord Hendren, president of Charlton Strategic Research Inc., said in a phone interview that technology like this is helping TV service providers move in the right direction in terms of providing more content to consumers in a more convenient way. “This is making it easier to access OTT content as well as paid-TV content, so I’d say this would have a positive impact on loyalty,” Hendren said. “You’re making it more convenient and now you’re taking a broader view of content both from paid TV and OTT and you’re putting it into an algorithm to say what is it that you like. Doesn’t matter where it comes from, it’s delivering what you like.” He noted that understanding consumer behaviour and having algorithms for providing the right content is how many companies are improving and enhancing the experience level for television consumption. Hendren said that the transition to being able to consume personalized paid-TV and OTT content on one platform is nice as it eliminates old technology and would seem to make viewing on different platforms easier. “I would have to say that some of the technology that still exists … is still pretty old and clunky,” Hendren said. — With reporting by Shruti Shekar at sshekar@thewirereport.ca and editing by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca

Telus among first to use new Ericsson TV interface

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