Entrega de conteúdos multimédia em over-the-top: caso de estudo das gravações automáticas

Doutoramento em Engenharia EletrotécnicaOver-The-Top (OTT) multimedia delivery is a very appealing approach for providing ubiquitous, exible, and globally accessible services capable of low-cost and unrestrained device targeting. In spite of its appeal, the underlying delivery architecture must be carefully planned and optimized to maintain a high Qualityof- Experience (QoE) and rational resource usage, especially when migrating from services running on managed networks with established quality guarantees. To address the lack of holistic research works on OTT multimedia delivery systems, this Thesis focuses on an end-to-end optimization challenge, considering a migration use-case of a popular Catch-up TV service from managed IP Television (IPTV) networks to OTT. A global study is conducted on the importance of Catch-up TV and its impact in today's society, demonstrating the growing popularity of this time-shift service, its relevance in the multimedia landscape, and tness as an OTT migration use-case. Catch-up TV consumption logs are obtained from a Pay-TV operator's live production IPTV service containing over 1 million subscribers to characterize demand and extract insights from service utilization at a scale and scope not yet addressed in the literature. This characterization is used to build demand forecasting models relying on machine learning techniques to enable static and dynamic optimization of OTT multimedia delivery solutions, which are able to produce accurate bandwidth and storage requirements' forecasts, and may be used to achieve considerable power and cost savings whilst maintaining a high QoE. A novel caching algorithm, Most Popularly Used (MPU), is proposed, implemented, and shown to outperform established caching algorithms in both simulation and experimental scenarios. The need for accurate QoE measurements in OTT scenarios supporting HTTP Adaptive Streaming (HAS) motivates the creation of a new QoE model capable of taking into account the impact of key HAS aspects. By addressing the complete content delivery pipeline in the envisioned content-aware OTT Content Delivery Network (CDN), this Thesis demonstrates that signi cant improvements are possible in next-generation multimedia delivery solutions.A entrega de conteúdos multimédia em Over-The-Top (OTT) e uma proposta atractiva para fornecer um serviço flexível e globalmente acessível, capaz de alcançar qualquer dispositivo, com uma promessa de baixos custos. Apesar das suas vantagens, e necessario um planeamento arquitectural detalhado e optimizado para manter níveis elevados de Qualidade de Experiência (QoE), em particular aquando da migração dos serviços suportados em redes geridas com garantias de qualidade pré-estabelecidas. Para colmatar a falta de trabalhos de investigação na área de sistemas de entrega de conteúdos multimédia em OTT, esta Tese foca-se na optimização destas soluções como um todo, partindo do caso de uso de migração de um serviço popular de Gravações Automáticas suportado em redes de Televisão sobre IP (IPTV) geridas, para um cenário de entrega em OTT. Um estudo global para aferir a importância das Gravações Automáticas revela a sua relevância no panorama de serviços multimédia e a sua adequação enquanto caso de uso de migração para cenários OTT. São obtidos registos de consumos de um serviço de produção de Gravações Automáticas, representando mais de 1 milhão de assinantes, para caracterizar e extrair informação de consumos numa escala e âmbito não contemplados ate a data na literatura. Esta caracterização e utilizada para construir modelos de previsão de carga, tirando partido de sistemas de machine learning, que permitem optimizações estáticas e dinâmicas dos sistemas de entrega de conteúdos em OTT através de previsões das necessidades de largura de banda e armazenamento, potenciando ganhos significativos em consumo energético e custos. Um novo mecanismo de caching, Most Popularly Used (MPU), demonstra um desempenho superior as soluções de referencia, quer em cenários de simulação quer experimentais. A necessidade de medição exacta da QoE em streaming adaptativo HTTP motiva a criaçao de um modelo capaz de endereçar aspectos específicos destas tecnologias adaptativas. Ao endereçar a cadeia completa de entrega através de uma arquitectura consciente dos seus conteúdos, esta Tese demonstra que são possíveis melhorias de desempenho muito significativas nas redes de entregas de conteúdos em OTT de próxima geração

Vodafone Portugal entry in the pay-TV market: what is the potential for profitability?

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economic

Proceedings of the 9th Iberoamerican Conference on Applications and Usability of Interactive TV - jAUTI 2020

Damos la bienvenida al libro de anales de las 9a Jornadas de Aplicaciones y Usabilidad de la Televisión Digital Interactiva - jAUTI'2020. Esta conferencia es una organización conjunta del grupo Social iTV de la Unidad de Investigación DigiMedia de la Universidad de Aveiro y de RedAUTI (Red temática en Aplicaciones y Usabilidad de Televisión Digital Interactiva). La edición de este año (celebrada el 18 de diciembre de 2020) se llevó a cabo, en el contexto de la pandemia COVID-19, en modalidad online, sin embargo, no dejó de reunir a investigadores de diversas universidades, concretamente de Europa y América, y de la industria para compartir su trabajo de investigación. Este libro de anales incluye un conjunto de 27 artículos organizados en 7 sesiones temáticas: Interacciones en el ecosistema de la televisión; El audiovisual en escenarios didácticos; Televisión interactiva para audiencias sénior; Evaluaciones de usabilidad y UX; Contenidos y experiencias audiovisuales; Aplicaciones de TV digital e IPTV interactivas.RedAUT

An architecture for evolving the electronic programme guide for online viewing

Watching television and video content is changing towards online viewing due to the proliferation of content providers and the prevalence of high speed broadband. This trend is coupled to an acceleration in the move to watching content using non-traditional viewing devices such as laptops, tablets and smart phones. This, in turn, poses a problem for the viewer in that it is becoming increasingly difficult to locate those programmes of interest across such a broad range of providers. In this thesis, an architecture of a generic cloud-based Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) system has been developed to meet this challenge. The key feature of this architecture is the way in which it can access content from all of the available online content providers and be personalized depending on the viewer’s preferences and interests, viewing device, internet connection speed and their social network interactions. Fundamental to its operation is the translation of programme metadata adopted by each provider into a unified format that is used within the core system. This approach ensures that the architecture is extensible, being able to accommodate any new online content provider through the addition of a small tailored search agent module. The EPG system takes the programme as its core focus and provides a single list of recommendations to each user regardless of their origins. A prototype has been developed in order to validate the proposed system and evaluate its operation. Results have been obtained through a series of user trials to assess the system’s effectiveness in being able to extract content from several sources and to produce a list of recommendations which match the user’s preferences and context. Results show that the EPG is able to offer users a single interface to online television and video content providers and that its integration with social networks ensures that the recommendation process is able to match or exceed the published results from comparable, but more constrained, systems

Validation of "triple-play" services in the access node

Mestrado em Engenharia Electrónica e TelecomunicaçõesCom o grande crescimento das comunicações fixas, as tecnologias de fornecimento de acesso à Internet, como o cabo (CATV) e o par de cobre (xDSL), têm possibilitado o fornecimento de serviços adicionais para além do típico acesso à Internet de Banda Larga (em que, desde há vários anos o serviço de televisão já existe na tecnologia de cabo). Assim sendo, e ainda devido a uma forte concorrência entre operadores de cabo e de “cobre”, o DSL Forum apresenta uma solução de arquitectura da rede de acesso e agregação que permite a migração da tradicional tecnologia ATM para Ethernet, em tecnologias baseadas em xDSL. A migração da arquitectura para uma rede baseada em Ethernet permite o fornecimento de serviços adicionais que exijam altos débitos, qualidade de serviço, transmissão de multicast, VOIP, entre outros. A presente tese apresenta os requisitos propostos pelo DSL Forum para o equipamento da rede de acesso e agregação: o nó de acesso (DSLAM), e um conjunto de testes conducentes à validação dos mesmos em laboratório, simulando uma possível rede de fornecedor de serviços. ABSTRACT: With the large growth of fixed communications, the technology that provides Internet access, such as cable (CATV) and copper (xDSL), need to enable the provision of additional services beyond the typical broadband Internet access (where, television service already exists for several years over cable technology). Thus, because of strong competition between cable and copper operators , DSL Forum presents an architecture and aggregation solution for the xDSL based access networks that allows the migration of traditional ATM technology to Ethernet. The migration of the architecture to Ethernet based network is due to the high speeds offer, and the possibility of additional services supporting quality of service, multicast transmission, VOIP, amongst others. This thesis presents the requirements proposed by the DSL Forum for the equipment of the access network and aggregation: access node (DSLAM), and their validation in a laboratory environment, simulating service provision scenarios

Smart TVs: the new age of television and advertising

A televisão teve, ao longo de toda a sua história, um papel preponderante na cultura e economia mundiais. A sua importância reside no seu potencial enquanto veículo de informação e entretenimento, mas também de promoção para as marcas, que foi, aliás, a sua principal fonte de receita ao longo dos anos. Com o lançamento das Smart TVs, a publicidade na televisão sofrerá uma grande revolução graças à união entre TV e internet, criando um novo mundo de inovação e tecnologia para o qual este estudo abre as primeiras portas. O estudo é constituído por uma revisão histórica e literária, seguida da elaboração de um estudo exploratório qualitativo a 12 especialistas internacionais da indústria da publicidade e da televisão. Dessa pesquisa concluiu-se que uma grande mudança irá acontecer, mas de forma gradual e progressiva, alterando-se alguns dos principais paradigmas atuais da publicidade na televisão tais como a capacidade de avaliação de resultados e a segmentação. Posteriormente concluiu-se que a futura publicidade na televisão fará uso de aparelhos complementares à TV para melhorar a experiência e impacto no utilizador. Privilegiará também a componente social e interativa da publicidade, assim como a personalização dos conteúdos provenientes de ligações on-air e online. Finalmente concluiu-se que alguns dos principais papéis dos elementos da indústria irão mudar sendo os anunciantes e os canais de televisão os menos afetados, ao contrário das agências que terão forte necessidade de adaptação e dos produtores de TV que sairão fortalecidos graças à oferta de soluções publicitárias para as marcas.Television had, throughout its history, a leading role in the world economy and culture. Its importance lies in its potential as a vehicle of information and entertainment, but also of promotion for brands, which was its main source of income over the years. With the launch of Smart TVs, advertising on television will suffer a great revolution thanks to the merger between TV and the internet, creating a whole new world of innovation and technology for which this study opens the first doors. The study consists in a historic and literary review, followed by the elaboration of an exploratory qualitative research to 12 international experts from the industry of TV and advertising. This study concluded that a big change will gradually and progressively happen, by changing some of the major current paradigms of advertising on television such as the results measurement and targeting capacity. Later it was concluded that the future TV advertising will make use of complementary devices others than TV, to enhance the audiences’ impact and experience. The social and interactive component of advertising will be valued, as well as the customization of content coming out of on-air and online connections. Finally it was concluded that some of the main roles of the elements of the industry will change being advertisers and broadcasters the least affected, unlike agencies that will have strong need of adaptation, and TV producers who will be strengthened through the delivery of advertising solutions for brands

Power play in television: a political economy analysis of power balances in broadcasting markets

In this dissertation, the focus is on the (evolving) configurations of power and control in broadcaster-to-distributor markets. Technological developments, as well as changes in the institutional framework, are in the process of fundamentally transforming legacy TV business models and have transferred power to ‘gatekeepers’ which derive a dominant position by controlling competitive bottlenecks. Since technology shocks might disrupt established power relationships in television, interactions between TV broadcasters and distributors incur tensions and conflicts of interests. It is argued that each party controls crucial platform resources and that the broadcaster-to-distributor market is organized around two converging TV platforms that unfold enveloping strategies and thus provoke power conflicts. One of the major assumptions of this dissertation is the mutual dependency between broadcasters and distributors, which leads to the conclusion that the market is marked by bilateral bargaining power, and needs to deal with double-marginalisation problems. Although both parties may have bargaining power, relationships between broadcasters and distributors are often characterised by power asymmetries, either in favour of the broadcaster or distributor. In the ever-increasing complex TV ecosystem, broadcasters as well as distributors are looking for outside opportunities to lessen dependence on their counterparty, and build strategic advantage during carriage negotiations. However, pricing power usually remains with the distributors, which eventually decide about the possible carriage and the package (basic or upgraded), and the position of the channel in that package (or in the electronic programming guide). A gatekeeping position allows distributors to pressure broadcasters to demand lower wholesale (input) prices. On top, distributors leverage bargaining power through the ownership of affiliated channels that directly compete access-seeking broadcasters. In a similar vein, owners of premium rights or must-have channels leverage their popularity and exclusivity in order to bargain higher retransmission payments from distributors. Whereas existing frameworks hold that competitive advantage essentially rests on the activities a firm performs within the value chain, it is claimed here that a firm’s position in the value chain does not adequately explain why different firms with similar activities have different levels of bargaining power. Rather than sticking to hollow aphorisms like ‘Content is King, but Distribution is King Kong’, it is assumed that the allocation of power between broadcasters and distributors crucially depends on the politico-economic context of broadcasting and its distribution, including the set of complex relationships between different parties in the business ecosystem. Since bargaining power in the broadcaster-to-distributor market tends to be context-specific and varies between different local settings, it is determined by the allocation of scarce resources in the industry, the individual nature of the broadcaster-to-distributor relationship and potential path dependencies in media and telecommunication policies. Hence, the major research objective is to study the interactions between broadcasters and distributors, and identify, in a qualitative way, those contextual variables that define bargaining power in broadcaster-to-distributor relationships. Although Porter’s model is still relevant for analysing the industry environment, the complexity of broadcasting and distribution markets and the speciality of carriage negotiations demands for a more specific framework to examine relationships and power conflicts between broadcasters and distribution. Following a resource-centric perspective, the ownership and control of strategic assets are considered determinants of bargaining power. Based on a literature review and interviews with 36 media managers and experts, it was possible to come up with a multidimensional and multilevel approach to bargaining power and to construct a complex of interrelated power attributes (clustered in five dimensions) that influence a firm’s competitive position in carriage negotiations. On the macro level, a number of legal provisions and regulatory requirements strongly affect the carriage negotiations. Reference is made to telecommunications rules, competition law, media-specific regulation and copyright law. On the meso level, the model suggests that the market structure forms an important factor in the creation of bargaining power. Industry concentration, number of business partners, entry barriers and the threat of technological progress are identified as critical parameters. On the micro level, the structure of the negotiating firms needs to be taken into account to assess bargaining power. Hence, firm-specific characteristics of broadcasters and distributors involved in a carriage negotiation include relative firm size, conglomerateness, vertical integration and financial resilience. Next to firm characteristics, emphasis is put on product differentiation as a source of a bargaining power. Product characteristics are related to the market and industry structure, and predominantly refer to product differentiation, exclusivity, bundling and switching costs. On the individual level, psychological, emotional and interpersonal issues play a decisive role in carriage negotiations

Proceedings of the X Iberoamerican Conference on Applications and Usability of Interactive TV jAUTI2021

The X Ibero-American Conference on Applications and Usability of TVDI jAUTI 2021 is an organization of the Department of Electricity, Electronics and Telecommunications and the WiCOM-Energy Research Group of the University of the Armed Forces ESPE together with RedAUTI (Thematic Network on Applications and Usability of Interactive Digital Television). This year's edition was held from December 2 to 3, 2021 in the city of Sangolquí, Ecuador, taking place online. This book brings together 18 works presented on the design, development and experiences of applications for interactive digital television and related technologies (IPTV, Smart TV, Connected TV, and Web TV).La X Conferencia Iberoamericana de Aplicaciones y Usabilidad de la TVDI jAUTI 2021 es una organización del Departamento de Electricidad, Electrónica y Telecomunicaciones y el Grupo de Investigación WiCOM-Energy de la Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE junto con la RedAUTI (Red temática en Aplicaciones y Usabilidad de Televisión Digital Interactiva). La edición de este año se realizó del 2 al 3 de diciembre de 2021 en la ciudad de Sangolquí, Ecuador, llevándose a cabo en modalidad online. Este libro reúne 18 trabajos presentados sobre el diseño, desarrollo y experiencias sobre aplicaciones para televisión digital interactiva y tecnologías relacionadas (IPTV, Smart TV, Connected TV, and Web TV).A X Conferência Ibero-Americana de Aplicações e Usabilidade da TVDI jAUTI 2021 é uma organização do Departamento de Eletricidade, Eletrônica e Telecomunicações e do Grupo de Pesquisa WiCOM-Energy da Universidade das Forças Armadas ESPE juntamente com a RedAUTI (Rede Temática sobre Aplicações e Usabilidade da Televisão Digital Interativa). A edição deste ano foi realizada de 2 a 3 de dezembro de 2021 na cidade de Sangolquí, Equador, online. Este livro reúne 18 trabalhos apresentados sobre design, desenvolvimento e experiências em aplicativos para televisão digital interativa e tecnologias relacionadas (IPTV, Smart TV, Connected TV e Web TV).RedAUT