A deal with SkyPerfect, one of the largest satellite pay-TV operators in Japan, could prove to be key breakthrough for OpenTV, CEO Ben Bennett told IBC e-Daily.
     “Japan is a very difficult market to get into,” said Bennett. “You really have to invest in relationships to make it happen. It is a major deal. It is one of the largest TV markets in the world, and the second largest advertizing market.”
Under the multiyear agreement, which has not been formally announced but was mentioned during a recent earnings call, OpenTV will provide its Core middleware technology, set-top boxes with high-definition and personal video recorder functionality, and create a user interface for SkyPerfect.
     The deal with SkyPerfect provides a boost to OpenTV at a time when Bennett has promised shareholders that the company would reach profitability next year. “We are committed to that,” he said. “The guidance is to be breakeven to profit this year, and then this time next year we want to improve on that. SkyPerfect is key, because it is a great driver of our technology roadmap and a lot of customers will benefit from that. India and Latin America could also be key markets for OpenTV over the next 12 months.”
OpenTV also looks to make gains in the market for helping pay-TV operators develop their hybrid content distribution strategies. “I think the market we are focusing on is pay-TV DTH, and they are embracing the hybrid model right now,” Bennett said. “That is our main customer base. A good portion of the major DTH operators we talk too are looking at the hybrid model, which is why the middleware and technology needs to be IPTV enabled.”
     Satellite pay-TV operators around the world are demanding more from suppliers such as OpenTV, pushed by consumers that want a more diverse, rich range of applications. “Push video on demand is one of those areas where satellite pay-TV operators want to replicate the experience they get on cable, but it is not so much happening in terms of deployments right now,” said Bennett. “The other trend is much talked about, but takes a lot of investment, is this ability to go hybrid. You can have DTH broadcast content and then connect those boxes up to DSL. The middleware we have today is IP aware. The trend is that a lot of the operators are beginning to combine with DSL providers and connecting their set-top boxes to the Internet. That sets up the potential for pull video on demand and different sort of applications. Longer term, it is about accessing niche YouTube-type content from the Internet and playing it on the TV.”
     OpenTV hopes it can lead a transformation in the way user search for and view content, Bennett said. “Having a user experience integrated within our Core middleware technology is pretty important, because there is a complexity of managing all those different sources of content,” he said. “TV is moving on. Companies like OpenTV have to understand that consumer experience and build that technology in top of the middleware.”