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Content Provisioning Introduction
An introduction to content provisioning and the universe that it covers
By: Bruce Bahlmann - Contributing Author (your
feedback
is important to us!)
Created: November 12, 2001
Introduction:
Provisioning content can mean a number of different things depending on what business
your in (or would like to get in). Lets look at an example business of delivering movies
to consumers. Content provisioning in the case of this service has many ways to reach the
consumer, each of which "could" involve some form of provisioning. Here is a
brief sampling:
- Networks -- Companies like ABC, NBC, Fox, CBS, PTV etc. are sources of movies that are
provisioned onto the network of stations affiliated with these companies. Consumers are
able to access this content via their television but the last mile delivery means can vary
on the location of the consumer.
- Pay Per View (PPV) -- Companies like InDemand have the ability to provide video content
to the consumer in such a way that the consumer can select among a number of newly
released films or closed television events (boxing match) that will take place in the
future (minutes, hours, or days in advance). When the time comes for the content to be
viewed, something enables their television to view otherwise scrambled content.
- Video on Demand (VoD) -- Companies like Moviefly, HBO, etc. have the ability to provide
video content to the consumer on request. This content is streamed down to the consumer's
Set Top Box (STB) or television set.
- Movie Rental -- Companies like Blockbuster, VideoUpdate, etc. rent movies directly to
consumers for them to take home and watch on their playback machines (DVD, VCR, etc.).
Consumers must return the rented items either the next day or within a week of purchase
depending on the age of the rented movie (older movies can be rented longer).
Most people have some familiarity with these methods from personal experience.
Understanding how these methods interact with provisioning can be difficult. Provisioning
is a process/mechanism that enables something to take place. Registration, Mediation, and
Activation are words that commonly describe provisioning which encompasses the details
between offering something (product, content) and making the intended result happen in the
eyes of the consumer.
Any one of the methods listed above require a number of different things to happen
before the intended result can happen in the eyes of the consumer. To understand this
process lets look at Figure 1.0 for further explanation.
Figure 1.0 Content Provisioning Universe
On the left of the diagram you have the end user devices (computer,
television, radio, etc.) that the consumer is familiar with using. However, as one looks
to the right at the layer upon layer of complexity that is involved in delivering content
to the device, the piece they are familiar with becomes confusing. Let me walk you through
the logic of this diagram just to put this into perspective (note I may have missed some
layers but this diagram is sufficient for this introduction).
Moving from the left the first thing a consumer sees is the edge device or
the customer facing device. This is what some people call consumer devices or things you
can buy at Target. The next thing you see is what goes on within that device. It runs
programs such as program guides, Interactive Television (ITV), games, etc. These
applications may be the hosted locally (or remotely) on an access device such as a STB,
residential gateway, or game console which are connected to their edge device via an
inline recorder such as a VCR, PVR, etc. Recording devices enable the consumer to save,
file, and retrieve this content for later use. The more flexible the access device the
more diverse content its capable of handling. Note that some inline recorders are built
into some vendors access devices so this space is not as clear cut as the rest.
The access device is generally useless unless it can connect with the
outside world. Fortunately, today we have many different means to access the consumer's
home and any access devices they may have. The type of access device may ultimately
determine the connectivity media. For example, a cable modem only works with cable --
currently, DSL with twisted pair, etc. Each connectivity media also has its preferred
means of last mile deliver with consumers. For example Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC), fiber,
Satellite, etc. each cater to particular connectivity media and access devices --
currently. All of these delivery methods are not common place or exist in nature. Thus,
they must be generated, broadcasted, circulated, or transmitted to their respective
delivery media. Before they can be sent on down the line, the original content may be
transformed in such a way as to leverage the preferred transmission format of the last
mile delivery.
Although the next visible entity may in fact be a transmission facility it
is merely an enclosure where all the real smarts happen. Here content is applied to
carrier, converted to Movie Picture Experts Group (MPEG), and/or digitized in complex
termination equipment (CMTS, DSLAM, etc.). At this point, an important thing happens.
Content becomes an event, an instance, a transaction, a request for service. In the
consumers home it was entertainment. However, once its traversed to the back office its
all business and technology. Technology takes care of the process of delivering the
content and business handles the resulting financial aspects. Each call for entertainment
-- even as simple as providing a broadcast channel such as ESPN to a consumer has these
aspects. In this example, you have the technology required to receive ESPN content from
the satellite, scramble it, upconvert it to a specific frequency, and then send it out to
multiple homes. The financial aspects of this example require that the customer is only
able to receive/view this content if they have subscribed to it specifically or to a
package which it is included. Then of course you have all the billing aspects and making
sure that the capital used to purchase this content is properly matched with charges for
this service. The coordination of these events take place in something called middleware.
In the ESPN example, it is also explained where the content come from.
Cable/Satellite companies just don't get this content for free. The deal for it! Each
company meets with content owners (e.g. ESPN) to negotiate rights to access and resell
their content to consumers. Through these deals the content is made available.
Interestingly, companies like Satellite and Cable operators require a number of different
content providers to do business. Like Wal-Mart who resells goods to consumers that it has
purchased, Satellite and Cable operators make deals for content which they in turn sell to
consumers. If they didn't have content to sell they would not be out of business. Internet
Service Providers (ISPs) fall into this same category only rather than buying content,
they facilitate (proxy) access to the mother of all content (the Internet).
Reselling goods and services (and content) works in the favor of
distributors. Essentially Cable/Satellite companies are glorified distributors. Again,
they would be nothing without the content that they must first purchase. All their value
comes from a creative assembly of content into consumable chunks (packages) that identify
with the consumers who's homes they provide convenient access for. Like Target who
provides a convenient customer-friendly place to shop (or technically resell its goods to
consumers), content distributors like Cable, Satellite, and ISPs all cater to customer
demand for content and redistribute what they believe its consumers want.
Provisioning Content:
By provisioning content, one seeks to control the process, dissemination,
financials associated with content. One term used to specify a key part of content
provisioning space is something called "rights-management". Rights-Management
seeks to control availability of the content such that only qualified (rightful) consumers
can gain access (view) it. However, provisioning goes beyond the financials and
rights-management. Since content provisioning "must" apply to all forms of
content it must satisfy both the most rigorous in terms of record keeping as well as those
which are purposefully less stringent. Its like the difference between provisioning an all
you can eat data service and the most critical of all services a phone call. Each comes
with their own unique set of activation items that must be achieved in the proper sequence
to permit a successful transaction/delivery/activation. Provisioning is also a
higher-level action item that must satisfy all components in the system.
For example, before a consumer can use VoD, they must have the proper end
devices provisioned, active, and available for VoD purchases. Provisioning can satisfy
this requirement by activating and configuring complex edge devices. It can also
coordinate higher level things like service packages as well as things in between that
only service technicians and engineers are worried about.
Interesting Thoughts:
Some greenfield opportunities have been identified in this document. Pretty much
anywhere I've mentioned the word "currently" I raise the question way is this
only the case of one particular technology or service. It seems to me that significant
economies of scale could be uncovered if one were to create things that work across
"traditional" thinking. For example, why can't RCA create a modem that can
operate in DSL or Cable by interchanging a card. The connectivity with the consumer's PC
is exactly the same yet we have two unique devices.
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