Network based personal video recording (nPVR) could radically change pricing metrics, advertising, and content distribution on video networks, according to a new report from ABI Research.
The report says that once nPVR is proven and content providers sign on, it will help to fuel the overall personal video recording (PVR) market, which it forecasts to grow from about 20 million subcribers last year to more than 250 million in 2011.
Michael Arden, principal analyst with ABI Research, said: “nPVR offers substantial benefits to service providers in terms of cost.
“But nPVR has to prove that its technology is as good as client-side DVR boxes, and it raises serious issues with some content providers, issues that they are willing to take to court.”
ABI says that the question with PVRs in the coming years is how much of the recording and replaying function will shift to operators’ networks.
It adds that the nPVR model allows any two-way digital set-top box (STB) with a proper software upgrade to act as a DVR: the content is stored on a server in the network.
In addition, the research says that the lower per-user cost of this centralised storage for network operators, matched by the low cost of “thin” client STBs (devices which convert and display digital data for display on a standard analog television set, or a box that receives off-air DTV signal for display on a DTV monitor) means that nPVR should prove popular in markets such as India and China.
However,and particularly in the US, media companies do not want their properties stored on network servers, arguing that their royalties should be paid for each new viewing, not, as the operators claim, on a one-time broadcast basis.
A report from Datamonitor released in August said that PVR uptake has been dissapointing outside the US, forecasting that fewer than 2% of European households will have PVRs by the end of 2006 (see UK Only Country In Europe With Over 50% DTV Services).
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