运营商可以帮助驯服OTT选择的暴政

Consumers are truly living in a golden age of content in the connected home. The exciting entrance in 2019 of major over-the-top (OTT) players—including Apple, Disney, AT&T /家庭影院, and scores of others—have combined with a vibrant cloud gaming sector to introduce an unprecedented diversity of shows to watch and experiences to enjoy. The high-quality production values now available are impressive and address a wide variety of consumer tastes and interests.

It should come as no surprise that this inflection point in the supply and demand for streaming content has taken place as we enter the new decade. Major network service provider investments in gigabit-speed access technologies by cable (DOCSIS 3.1), 电信(GPON), and wireless (4G/5G) operators have provided consumers with a robust infrastructure capable of accepting the deluge of bandwidth-intensive content that is flowing into today's connected home—often simultaneously.  

消费者的沮丧意味着运营商的机会

The main questions now revolve around helping consumers manage the growing array of options in an effective, 有成本效益的, 和直观的方式. These are especially pertinent questions for cord cutters who—only a few years ago—thought they were streamlining their options and reducing their home entertainment expenditures. As new compelling content providers compete for the hearts and minds of consumers, many subscribers are adding to—rather than rebalancing—their portfolio of OTT providers.  

虽然这些行为趋势有成本影响, the really big story emerging in 2020 will be about complexity management. 不同的订阅有自己的应用程序, 他们自己的登录凭证, 有时甚至是他们自己的专用设备. For many consumers, navigating this new environment is inconvenient and frustrating. Aggravating the situation is inconsistent performance of consumer electronics (CE) that have been purchased by consumers to support home entertainment needs. 

Most end users made their device decisions in a simpler time when fewer streaming options and services were available. 随着OTT领域变得越来越拥挤, there is a growing realization that smart TVs and set-top boxes are not all created equal. 结果是, we are seeing growing anecdotal evidence of consumers who are wrestling with CE devices that cannot handle the load of apps and services, creating technological glitches and conflicts that prevent services from running correctly. Resolving these issues has not been easy since there is no central source to contact for resolving application conflicts. 

nsp在稳健开放CPE战略中的新兴角色

It turns out that there is one player in the ecosystem that is in a position to offer relief to consumers, while ensuring that OTTs of all stripes deliver the best version of their services.

We expect networks service providers (NSPs) to play an increasing role in providing value-added managed services to subscribers by deploying open customer premises equipment (CPE)—at both the gateway and set-top box (STB) levels—that integrate and optimize the delivery of high-quality streaming services to consumers.

The growing popularity of open platforms like RDK and Android TV are making it possible for offerings from multiple providers to share common infrastructures. 但仅仅开放是不够的. The new generation of CPE supporting the growing spectrum of services must integrate openness, 计算能力, and intelligence to dynamically manage the experiences consumers want in an intuitive, 高效安全的方式.

特别是对于机顶盒, this combination will make it possible for NSPs to offer a whole new generation of value-added services—such as targeted advertising, next generation gaming and smart home applications—that will produce new revenue streams while improving customer engagement and satisfaction.

然而，一种方式并不适合所有人. Different NSPs will require their own mixes of services and capabilities depending on the technological, 经济, 以及他们所服务的市场的地理现实. 结果是, the winners will be determined by how well they pre-integrate services and features into their CPE deployment strategy. 这一战略的核心将是复杂性管理, with the goal of making it as easy as possible for consumers to access the streaming services they want in an intuitive manner.

有效地执行, this strategy will significantly tighten the relationships that NSPs have with consumers as they look to access the content and services they desire and require.  

这是一篇来自 鲜艳的色彩. 流媒体 accepts vendor bylines based solely on their value to our readers.]