By Didier Zwierski
After the Swiss telecom operator Salt, the French TV operator Canal+ launches a new offer and provides his subscribers with an Apple TV as a terminal, replacing then its own decoder by an App that will give access to Canal+ pay-TV programs and services (see the link below). Is this the coming end of the STB business?
Indeed, for broadband TV (i.e. xDSL, Fiber and Cable – Satellite being of course a different story), in countries where Network PVR is legal, this is a smart way to go : no investment in developing a new terminal, faster – and cheaper – time-to-market, no dependency on a middleware vendor, use of the Apple brand, relying on a first-class partner for a high quality terminal… In the case of Canal+, it allows the pay-TV operator to reach the subscriber independently from the broadband service provider.
