[Satellite TODAY 04-01-13] Modern Times Group (MTG) is one of the largest media groups in Europe. Viasat Broadcasting, an MTG subsidiary, responsible for pay-TV operations, has been working hard to diversify its content offers to customers. The company launched its ViaPlay online video streaming service back in 2007, and has been one of the pioneers in Europe in expanding from just offering DTH services. ViaSat has launched the Viaplay App on the Apple iOS and Google Android platforms and it is now available on the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 games consoles. 

    Bartek Gudowski, CTO, Viasat Broadcasting, says a service like ViaPlay acts as more of a complement to satellite. “Viaplay complements our premium satellite pay-TV platform and channels. It is also showing up as an on-demand service on our DTH boxes. It is really tied into all services. It helps to give multi-screen access for pay-TV subscribers. They are really supporting each other to create more growth for the company. We really started with OTT in 2007. It is more about strengthening the DTH offerings rather than replacing it. The offers are also helping us reach new audiences which are outside of the satellite footprint,” he says.
 

    The company is not resting on its laurels to bring more services to customers, and has recently launched ViaGame, a new gaming service, in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. Gudowski believes this will be “a vitally important” service for the company. “Gaming is an exciting area, and you can also work closely with the TV production side on this also. We have also recently launched a second screen app called Like.tv, which is basically aggregate the social media experience on your second screen. We believe that kind of experience is going to come more important to users,” he says.
 

    Viasat ended the year with just fewer than 600,000 satellite pay-TV subscribers. It has around 430,000 subscribers through third party networks, where its offers are available. In terms of its demands for satellite capacity going forward, Gudowski says, “if we look at our demands for satellite capacity, you have to realize that we are one of the biggest distributors of HD channels in our territory now. We are seeing more and more channels upgrading from SD to HD. So, I think there will be natural demand for increased HD capacity because of the requirements of end users. You also have the potential 4K distribution. It is not yet decided whether this will come from satellite. We are not sure what the bandwidth requirements will be for this going forward. We believe it will be more about having higher quality on existing channels. In general, we believe our demands for satellite capacity will grow over time.”
 

    Viasat Broadcasting has around 40 HD channels on its platform. It launched a further 11 HD channels in the fourth quarter last year, so and has increased its HD offer by around 33 percent. In terms of when it might bring 4K broadcasts to its customer base, Gudowksi says “it is more driven by chipsets at this stage. It is probably going to take at least thee to four years before 4K will reach any market proliferation. The screens are there, they are a very prosumer level. (…) The TV manufacturers are really pushing this. The screen sizes are getting bigger. However, I think it will be a much higher threshold going to 4K than it was to go to HD. I think if you look at normal sized apartments and households, there is unlikely to be such a strong demand for increased screen sizes.”
 

    Like a number of DTH operators, the company is diversifying at a fast rate, so it is better able to serve customers going forward. Gudowski says nowadays, the challenge for the company is all about creating a “common ecosystem” and leveraging the benefits of that. “We have done a lot of things in different domains, OTT, gaming. So, the key challenge is bridging all these services across different devices. That will be one challenge. We have a very good content line-up, from sports rights to general entertainment. All of these things will help us in terms of content bridging and creating this eco-system,” he says.