Thakur
Banned
- Joined
- 30 Aug 2013
- Messages
- 14,856
- Reaction score
- 8,575
MUMBAI: Even as over-the-top (OTT) players look bent on luring subscribers away from traditional media companies, one OTT player is embracing traditional media to sell its services to consumers. Faced with subdued response to its OTT service, Bengaluru-based Lukup Media has decided to bundle its OTT offering with traditional TV and internet service.
Hence, the company has applied for a multi-system operator (MSO) as well as an internet service provider (ISP) licence to provide TV and internet service.
Founded in 2010, Lukup Media had launched its on-demand television service Lukup TV last year in Bengaluru. When it started selling its product to consumers, the company realised that it was difficult to convince them to pay for an OTT service over and above what they pay for cable TV or direct-to-home (DTH) service. “We launched our OTT product last year. But when we started selling the product, we observed that OTT is viewed as a value-added service.
Consumers want to have their TV channel on it as well. When we tell them that they have to buy an STB to view the TV channels, they think ‘oh we have to invest in both’.
Hence, there is some hesitation,” said Lukup Media founder-CEO Kallol Borah. He added, “We are essentially bundling services. We have applied for an MSO licence as well as an ISP licence. These will allow us to bundle television and internet in one connection.”
Instead of taking a cable connection, a broadband connection and then subscribe for an OTT service like Lukup TV, subscribers can take one connection which will give them linear TV channel which can run on on-demand basis, internet access, and OTT service.
Deals with LCOs Borah said that the company has already signed up with local cable operators (LCOs) to provide its services. Lukup has signed contracts with 200 operators with a total base of 1.8 million homes. “We started signing contracts with LCOs in October or November last year,” he added.
He also said that the company has started doing the trials and will be commercially available as soon as it gets the licence. “We are starting the trials now.
We want to ensure that things are running smoothly end to end from our headend to customer. We are expected to complete our trials with 30 LCOs,” he stated.
He also said that LCOs can provide these additional services without disrupting the existing services of the MSOs to which they are linked.
“If you look at the infrastructure, most LCOs have got six or 12 core fibres. If you have 12 core fibres, only one core is required for transmitting TV signals.
A lot of them have four or five core free. While most MSOs are providing one-way RF feed, we will provide a two-way IP feed,” he stated. Lukup has deployed a team of 15 members to work with LCOs.
Read more at:
http://www.televisionpost.com/cable/ott-player-lukup-media-applies-for-mso-licence/
Hence, the company has applied for a multi-system operator (MSO) as well as an internet service provider (ISP) licence to provide TV and internet service.
Founded in 2010, Lukup Media had launched its on-demand television service Lukup TV last year in Bengaluru. When it started selling its product to consumers, the company realised that it was difficult to convince them to pay for an OTT service over and above what they pay for cable TV or direct-to-home (DTH) service. “We launched our OTT product last year. But when we started selling the product, we observed that OTT is viewed as a value-added service.
Consumers want to have their TV channel on it as well. When we tell them that they have to buy an STB to view the TV channels, they think ‘oh we have to invest in both’.
Hence, there is some hesitation,” said Lukup Media founder-CEO Kallol Borah. He added, “We are essentially bundling services. We have applied for an MSO licence as well as an ISP licence. These will allow us to bundle television and internet in one connection.”
Instead of taking a cable connection, a broadband connection and then subscribe for an OTT service like Lukup TV, subscribers can take one connection which will give them linear TV channel which can run on on-demand basis, internet access, and OTT service.
Deals with LCOs Borah said that the company has already signed up with local cable operators (LCOs) to provide its services. Lukup has signed contracts with 200 operators with a total base of 1.8 million homes. “We started signing contracts with LCOs in October or November last year,” he added.
He also said that the company has started doing the trials and will be commercially available as soon as it gets the licence. “We are starting the trials now.
We want to ensure that things are running smoothly end to end from our headend to customer. We are expected to complete our trials with 30 LCOs,” he stated.
He also said that LCOs can provide these additional services without disrupting the existing services of the MSOs to which they are linked.
“If you look at the infrastructure, most LCOs have got six or 12 core fibres. If you have 12 core fibres, only one core is required for transmitting TV signals.
A lot of them have four or five core free. While most MSOs are providing one-way RF feed, we will provide a two-way IP feed,” he stated. Lukup has deployed a team of 15 members to work with LCOs.
Read more at:
http://www.televisionpost.com/cable/ott-player-lukup-media-applies-for-mso-licence/
