[18] ACG Research notes that for cable operators, CloudTV can reduce total cost of ownership by up to 83% when compared to a set-top box replacement program.
[19] Arpad Jordan, then CTO of Central and Eastern Europe for Liberty Global, described CloudTV's virtualization of STB functionality as a technology “that can always extend the capabilities of any kind of set-top box.”[20] The technology was cited as a key enabler of Charter's 2015 agreement to acquire Time Warner Cable, with Moffett Nathanson analyst Craig Moffett saying “this deal may not have been possible, at least at this price, without ActiveVideo’s technology.”[21] There are several solutions and products out on the market so far, which use different methodologies for each of them.
[16] On high-density servers from Kontron and others that are based on Intel Quick Sync Video, virtual STB data center CapEx can be as low as $1 per subscriber.
[26] In 2013, Ziggo (now a part of Liberty Global) achieved two pay-TV firsts: delivery of interactive services such as VOD to STBs without built-in hardware,[27] as well as to televisions equipped with CI Plus 1.3 conditional access modules, without the need of a set-top box.
[30] and underscores the value of the channel bundle by encouraging viewers to “go outside their comfort zone.”[31] Videonet noted that Liberty Puerto Rico is running Social Content Navigator on single-tuner set-tops, and observed that such a service ordinarily would require “new STBs with more power and multiple tuners.”[32] Charter Communications, which in June 2013 had become the first pay-TV provider to commit to deploying a full user interface streamed entirely from the cloud,[33] unveiled its cloud-based Spectrum Guide at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2015.
"[36] Following the acquisitions of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable, Charter has restated the company's commitment to roll out the new UI across “legacy Charter markets.”[37] Other companies that have announced that they have deployed, or intend to deploy, cloud-based UIs include: Glashart Media, a part of Dutch telecommunications provider KPN, that noted that CloudTV has helped it double subscribers and achieve VOD take rates of three items per subscriber per month,[38] and Liberty Global.
In addition, Telekom Innovation Laboratories (T-Labs), the research and innovation arm of Deutsche Telekom, has demonstrated how CloudTV allows it to achieve its goal of “virtualizing the set-top box and moving the execution of applications to the cloud.”[39] With the rise of so-called over-the-top (OTT) streaming services, cable system operators have sought to create “friend, not foe”[40] relationships by offering OTT seamlessly as part of the pay-TV service bundle.
CloudTV StreamCast enables pay-TV and online video providers to overcome the fragmentation and limitation of device resources, resolving “content experience, content protection and content delivery issues by rendering user interfaces and bridging online and pay-TV DRM and video formats in the cloud.”[41] Light Reading has reported that Charter Communications, for example, could “use their new cloud-based video platform to deliver the OTT service to subscribers.”[42] In June 2014, GigaOm reported that Liberty Global subsidiary UPC Hungary is “bringing YouTube to every single customer, thanks to clever use of the cloud.” GigaOm noted that UPC is using CloudTV to deliver YouTube to customers’ existing set-top boxes, making the approach “not only cheaper, but also a whole lot faster than transitioning each and every customer to new devices.”[43] The UPC Hungary launch was followed by news that HBO Europe would bring HBO GO to pay-TV STBs using CloudTV StreamCast.