China Broadcasting Network: CCBN highlights the top ten consensus of cable industry

In March of this year, Beijing's liquor consumption is definitely lower than in previous years. The reason is not to be said, you know.

From the perspective of the development of the industry, this year's CCBN is destined to present some bright technologies and products, but perhaps the competition is rapidly diversified and the pattern is complicated. Perhaps the reduction of alcohol is also conducive to sober thinking. From the perspective of the author's understanding of exhibitions, conferences, wine tables and teahouses in the past week, the prospects and trends of the cable industry have unexpectedly formed more and more consensus. Let's make a rough combing here, and make a check on CCBN2014.

1. Broadband service should be used as the basic service of cable

In the decade from 2003 to 2013, the cable network has been making a fuss around digitalization and overall conversion. During the period, with the integration of a province and a network and various tossing, during the September 28, 2009, 9 satellite channels launched Gao Biaoqingtong. Broadcasting, then the cable industry gradually turned to high-definition interactive business as the mainstream.

In 2008, after the reorganization of the telecommunications industry, the three major telecom operators became full-service operators. Subsequently, the broadband Internet developed rapidly, and the mobile Internet, 3G, and 4G gradually evolved. At the same time, the voice service is becoming less and less, and the importance of broadband data services is becoming more and more prominent. The telecom OTT service forces telecom to move from the SP business to the traffic management and intelligent pipeline strategy, and hopes to obtain more financial support at the national level through the broadband China strategy.

OTT TV makes the original telecom-led broadband data service directly intersect with the cable-led video service. In addition, the Internet business model counters the traditional fields, making more and more cable operators realize that broadband data services must be realized. Put it in the same or even more important position as the video business!

During CCBN, in a video interview organized by China Broadcasting Corporation, Han Huakai, director of Gehua Cable Marketing Department, said that Gehua began to exert its strength in broadband access business last year. The goal this year is to increase 100,000 households. Liu Liang, vice president of Zhujiang Digital, said that they will position this year as "Broadband Year." It is also reported that the Guangdong Provincial Network will launch gateway products this year, which is also due to the importance of control over broadband channels.

For such a consensus, some operators are still missing from the perspective of the sorrow, through the diversification of business, one more card in hand can be more competitive in the competition. A deeper understanding, the author believes that it should be placed at the height of the national informationization and social information infrastructure, which is the core of future business.

This understanding is precisely the reason that Yao Yong, an expert in the field of access technology, pointed out that "the cable network should achieve 100% two-way". It is believed that under this consensus, the two-way network transformation of the cable network will be further accelerated. Therefore, it is not surprising that the booths of Fiberhome Communications, Dongyan Network, Chengdu Guangda and Digital Video are particularly lively this year.

As for the inter-network settlement of broadband services, Internet exports, etc., the industry has given high expectations to the State Grid. I believe this is also an important means for the State Grid to bring together national resources and industry confidence and trust.

2. The wired network should take the road of platform operation

Platform operation, in simple terms, is that I come to set up the stage and everyone sings. For example, Weibo and WeChat.

At the beginning of the development of the cable network, it was a cable TV station. The time network was integrated. As the telecom industry developed at the beginning, the telecommunication network and the telephone service were integrated. The same proprietary network provided proprietary services. Even the fax service was relatively independent. network of.

Subsequently, the separation of the network will push the cable network to the sea, and the cable network will transmit the content of the TV station. At a certain angle, the cable network has already had a hint of platform operation, including CCTV 3, 5, 6, and 8 Charges are made by cable networks around the country, including the landing of paid channels. Unfortunately, due to the inertia of the cable station and the lack of other TV transmission channels, the division of labor under the monopoly made the wired network not have the idea of platform operation.

The basis of platform operation is to build and open up its own capability platform, and greatly reduce the entry threshold of CP and SP. Wired is doing very poorly in this regard.

Looking back at the digital decade again, in terms of technology platform, from CA, SMS, data broadcasting, NVOD, browser, middleware, to BOSS, VOD, IP QAM, the wired network has been constantly playing on the platform of the original analog number. Patch only.

In 2010, although the three-network integration policy gave telecom IPTV a sneak peek from the name of the righteousness, but its private network operation structure is not the same as the cable network, its front-end to terminal standardization is not complete, so It has not significantly lowered the threshold for social resources to enter. But when the OTT TV surge came, the drawbacks of the closed system were completely highlighted.

During the current CCBN period, more and more cable operators are talking about platform operations. Although their respective perspectives and degrees are not consistent, they all realize that it is increasingly difficult to develop and operate value-added services on their own.

Therefore, IPization has become an inevitable trend. The purpose of IP is to standardize and relatively open. Openness and standardization are to lower the threshold for entry of external resources, facilitate the rapid deployment of services and go online. Here, the high efficiency and high quality transmission of DVB and IP intranets will be the advantage of cable. Emphasizing the IP intranet does not mean blocking the Internet.

3. DVB+OTT is a win-win cooperation under platform operation

DVB+OTT is definitely one of the most important keywords of this year's CCBN. On March 18th, the author represented the DOF Forum's staged report on the “DVB+OTT Business Model Research” project, which received high attention from the industry, so many people came to me to discuss some of the issues during the CCBN exhibition.

According to the study, DVB+OTT is the evolution path of the wired network from the original enclosure operation, forward charging to open operation, and backward charging Internet business model. As the Internet brings together more and more social resources and even moves toward the Internet of Everything, the wired network will embrace the Internet will be the only way.

In the speech, the author believes that C2B will be the final stage of business. Wang Haitian said very keenly in his blog post that "the subversion of the industry is not the Internet, but overproduction." Yes, it is precisely because of overproduction, "what kind of things can be sold (to seize the needs of users)? "And how can I sell things (to cater to the user's psychology)?" become the two mainstream channels of marketing. This is the reason for C2B. From the perspective of information flow control, the inversion of supply and demand information is realized, thus maximizing the value of information flow.

In the speech PPT, the author draws a vernier caliper that is forward-charged and backward-charged. This balance point will gradually move to the right. In this process, before the backward charge has not been established, the size of the user needs to be used first. This is why DVB+OTT is hard to come by. Therefore, it is necessary to bundle more resources to share risks, and at the same time, the wired network needs to build a platformized operation system and move toward cooperation and win-win. The establishment of the "DVB+OTT Landing Application Promotion Working Group" by DOF is precisely for this consideration. The 10 institutions that have signed this contract include cable operators, investment, content, services and other institutions, all of which are in the application of DVB+OTT. Scarce, complementary resources.

Looking further a bit, when the business is heading towards the end of C2B, the business model will return to the forward charge, which is a spiral rise. In this regard, Dr. Li Wen, vice president of BesTV Technology and vice president of BesTV Research Institute, held the same view in his speech. He pointed out that the formation of this business closed loop relies on big data returning from users to content production and operation.

The DVB+OTT word is almost everywhere in this exhibition. From the system to the terminal, the “icast fusion TV companion” product launched by Guowei is worthy of attention. This USB Dongle has done the work of CA descrambling and intelligent EPG presentation. It can be combined with smart TV and OTT box to form a fusion of DVB+OTT or OTT+DVB.

From the initial business model of DVB+OTT, at least the current list of more than 100 million is upgraded to HD DVB+OTT users, which is a relatively mature forward charging business model.

4. Semi-open and semi-connected will be the best business model for a long time. In the aforementioned speech of “DVB+OTT Business Model Research”, the author believes that the integration of wired network and Internet is not a model to push down the Berlin Wall, but The first step is to introduce the process of gradual docking. Therefore, semi-open and semi-connected will be the optimal business model for a long time.

At a small internal forum organized by China Broadcasting Corporation, Yang Kun, deputy secretary-general of the Interactive Media Industry Alliance, pointed out that the Internet has never been truly open. From Apple's iOS to Weibo and WeChat, it is a semi-open model. Yang Kun believes that traditional radio and television and telecommunications are business and network bundling, content and service bundling; now in the pre-Internet era, media and media separation (new media), business and bearer separation (OTT); post-Internet era, there will be a platform Separation from functions (app store), data and pipe separation (SDN, cloud computing, big data); finally, application platform + data management and control will become the core link between network transmission and functional software and data operations. The system was completely refactored. Therefore, behind the new technology concepts such as SDN and cloud computing, it is a huge commercial driving force such as Google.

Yang Kun believes that the "semi-closed garden" model is the balance between maximizing profits and exploiting the openness of the Internet, and has been verified by the market. To establish a vertical system with full control, in addition to gaining control over users, it is also necessary to master the control and management rights of the network layer so that the business and data channels can be closely connected to establish control of users, new users. The portal will be a service portal that integrates all the capabilities of data control and business functions.

Therefore, the video content of the OTT is first placed in the wired IP intranet, which not only conforms to the principle of gradual opening, but also satisfies the high quality video service guarantee.

For the future, the cable network should indeed be prepared for the basic business free of charge, relying on large-scale users to realize value-added services, and then charge for the charges; but for the moment, to fully protect the existing video users, control the "cursors on the calipers" The speed of right movement is the most feasible strategy of “combat and advance”.

5, HD to 4k, cable network still has a stage advantage

Netflix recently reached an agreement with Comcast, the former paying the latter to ensure that the latter users can enjoy the services provided by the higher quality of the former. This agreement undoubtedly gives cable operators a confidence in the face of OTT challenges.

Despite the broadband China strategy, fiber-optic home, cable network DVB HD live broadcast and cable internal network IP high-quality transmission, from the current point of view still has certain advantages, the cable network should accelerate the process of high-definition, and actively follow up 4K development of.

Since the 4K became a hot spot at CES on the other side of the ocean at the beginning of the year, Youpeng Pule and BesTV have also launched 4K. Gehua Cable has announced that it will launch 100Mb broadband products during the year and become the first operator to introduce 4K content in China. At the exhibition, Tongzhou, Skyworth, Jiulian, Harley and other booths also launched 4K set-top boxes or H.265 codec concept products; Haisi showed its Hi3796C V100 4K/H.265 chip solution, Founded less than a year ago, Zhaoxin also released its 4K chip solution, and Zhaoxin is also the chip provider for intelligent terminals provided by Dongfang Cable.

Of course, the 4K industry chain is not yet mature, especially in the upstream content production and TV broadcasts. It is expected that 4K content will be launched on the broadband Internet in the same way as the 1080P HD, and then it will be fully popularized by the 4K broadcast of the TV station.

In addition, the author enjoyed a demonstration of Dolby Vision technology introduced at CES this year at Dolby's booth, which provides a larger brightness range and a wider color gamut at the same 1080P resolution. The effect comparison can be described by shock. According to reports, the maximum brightness of blue light is only 100NITS, and Dolby Vision can reach 4000NITS.

Human pursuit of audio and video experience is endless, and the large bandwidth access of wired networks is imminent. The "big video wide network" on the front of the Huawei booth is a good summary of this topic.

6. Take advantage of the localized O&O advantages of wired networks

Whether it is Alibaba's cooperation with China Mobile and Smart TV through its Alibaba Cloud TVOS, or Xiaomi and Jiashi Interactive and DVB+OTT cooperation with Jiangxi Province, more and more cable operators are seeing the Internet. While enjoying the advantages of the company's entire network operation, it also realized its unique localization and operational advantages.

Alibaba's e-commerce strategy is moving toward business electronics, from C2C to B2C, and is moving to O&O's online and offline operations. As a resident network operator, the cable network has 220 million users in the urban area, and collects relatively complete user information through the whole turn. It has very good conditions for doing O&O.

Alibaba has gone from C2C to O&O for 10 years, but the cable network can be directly connected to O&O!

Of course, the cable network needs to speed up the two-way, and it is necessary to improve the operational capability as soon as possible, find a good operating partner, and tap the localized gold resources of O2O.

7, the cable network is increasingly paying attention to big data development

Platform operation is also good, O&O business is also expanding, and the final stage of business is C2B. The foundation is to develop big data. The two-way network transformation and IPization are the basis for data collection, analysis and application.

Big data includes the application of content and content, content and people, and people. In terms of content and content related applications, this exhibition can see intelligent EPG-based intelligent recommendation system made by Yongxin Video, Digital Video, Shenzhen Guowei, etc., which will broadcast channels and VOD, intranet applications and even OTT content. Gradually get through.

The booths of Nanjing Tuge and Guoshuang Technology fully demonstrated the data analysis, data mining and operation of IPTV and cable networks. Big data will help the cable network gradually move toward precision marketing and precision advertising.

The author and Guoshuang's technical staff made some communication at their booths. According to them, more operators are now considering big data, but the most basic data collection work is due to the differences between wired networks and existing systems of terminals. With diversification, it is very difficult, and there is no uniform standard for data definition and format. They hope that China Broadcasting Corporation can take the lead in organizing operators and data collection, analysis and mining companies to discuss this together.

8, non-video business receives more attention

Perhaps because the OTT service is currently mainly targeted at video services, it has formed a direct impact on the wired VOD service in the cooperation process of DVB+OTT;