Quote:
Originally Posted by Media Boy
BSkyB's Darroch attacks Ofcom pay-TV pricing plans.
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Berkett said yesterday that he expects access to Sky HD and the wholesale pricing to be sorted out within 12 months. (Personally, and as I've mentioned before, I'll believe VM will get Sky HD just after analogue is turned off on VM, the timing being by pure coincidence, of course...)
A few other titbits he mentioned at the Goldman Sachs conference yesterday:
280Mhz of spectrum will be freed up when analogue is shut down. There is around 750Mhz in total.
DOCSIS 3 takes up around 15% of spectrum. Once analogue is shutdown, some of that freed up capacity will be used to bond the upstream channels on DOCSIS 3.
(In English, this means faster uploads)
Berkett is raving about his 3 screens approach. You have what content you want, when you want it and where you want it, whether it be on tv, mobile or PC screen via broadband.
He expects within 12-24 months to launch an application that will enable users to pause a tv programme on one tv, then resume the programme on a PC in another room, as but one example of IPTV/next gen tv.
Berkett really hit home, that he believes "application" is key, rather than content. (well, he would, wouldn't he...?) The ability to search for content ie comedy, whether it be a linear tv channel, VOD, something on the internet will become seamless, he thinks. He intends to launch applications that will remove any such distinction.
(Note, I don't expect anything until 2011 at the earliest, because the contract with Liberate, who supplies the EPG to VM, doesn't expire until then. So, I don't expect to see Berkets's wonderful new IPTV/next gen applications until then. I'm happy to be proven wrong)