"It's a choice that consumers or subscribers have to be offered," if pay-TV operators want to retain subscribers and not lose them to various direct-to-consumer streaming options, Rajaram said.
"Set-top boxes won't go away."īut he also believes that operators of all shapes and sizes need to develop a more formalized smart TV strategy, and to fit into that equation as more consumers adopt connected TVs and use them to sign up for pay-TV and other kinds of video services. Probably not in the next three to four years, even," he said. "In terms of scale, will replace 100% of the set-top boxes they are shipping today? Probably not. While programs such as Sky's Sky Glass and Vewd Operator TV all focus on retaining pay-TV subs with an integrated experience and obviating the need for a separate set-top box, Rajaram is under no illusion that the set-top box will suddenly fade into history.
Additionally, Vewd also has teamed its software with TVs from manufacturers such as Hisense and TCL. Vestel's capabilities extend well beyond Europe. Vewd does not intend to limit the program to Europe. Vewd expects to start its first rollouts with operators in the latter half of 2022 and into early 2023, he said.
Rajaram said several operators in Europe have begun to evaluate Vewd's Operator TV program, and that activity around it began to accelerate in recent weeks. "We need to be flexible enough to accept that go-to-market in different countries will be different. "Operators will have the option to go to market as they see fit for their local subscriber base," Rajaram added. He notes that some consumer pockets of Europe might be willing to pay a higher premium for a smart TV than others, so Vewd and its operator partners will need to build that into their individual approach, he added. The same formula cannot be applied across all of the regions of Europe," Rajaram said, noting that Vewd's piece of it will operate under a pure software-as-a-service model. "The actual go-to-market for each operator will be different. And while some operators will want to merely sell TVs with their services built in via traditional retail models, others might want to pursue subsidy models that package in subscriber fees – similar to the options Sky has made available initially in the UK with Sky Glass. Vewd did not announce any specific smart TV models, including screen dimensions and technology specs, that will be available through its Operator TV program early on, but the company expects to have a wide range of options available to its pay-TV partners.
Rajaram says those brands are just the tip of the iceberg, noting that Vestel also works with several that are more localized within Europe, such as Finlux (Scandinavia), Telefunken (Germany) and Bush (UK).Ĭombining Vewd's software with Vestel's hardware and TV distribution capabilities "provides an operator with a solution they'd otherwise have to invest in-house or over a multi-year ," Rajaram said. Or operators can piggyback on Vestel's wide range of TV brand partners, which include names such as Panasonic, JVC, Hitachi and Toshiba.Īneesh Rajaram is CEO of Vewd, an Oslo, Norway-based video software specialist formerly known as Opera TV.
They can develop and sell white label smart TVs under their own branding, such as what Sky is trying to do with its "Sky Glass" TVs and Comcast is expected to do soon in North American under the "X Class TV" brand. Operators, he said, will have multiple options. Rajaram said Vewd Operator TV, a program that's been in the works for well over a year, will take aim at those issues by tying Vewd's software framework and operating system with TVs made by Vestel. Operators, meanwhile, are seeing their video bases shrink as they attempt to stay competitive and relevant in the new video landscape. Consumers are satisfying their appetite for content by using multiple devices to access live and on-demand fare, but are also pining for ways to discover content and aggregate all of that content into a common platform. The Vewd Operator TV will take advantage of a partnership with Vestel, an original design manufacturer and top supplier of TVs for Europe.Īccording to Vewd CEO Aneesh Rajaram, such a move takes strategic aim at various consumer and operator constraints that pay-TV providers face today.