Digitization without set-top boxes the way to OTT

Digitization without set-top boxes, Internet TV, has been the solution for companies such as Cable Club and its Qlobbi platform from Peru, and Cable Mio from Colombia, to be able to offer OTT to their customers. “Digitizing without boxes, because it is very difficult to obtain a return on investment for those boxes,” explained Ana Lucía Gonzales, General Manager of Cable Club-Qlobbi in the panel La Nueva era OTT de Operadores de TV Paga (The new OTT era of pay-TV operators) that was held in the framework of the first day of NEXTV Andean Series of Dataxis.

“We decided to offer an OTT platform to our clients. We are working hard for an analog blackout this year,” said Sergio Restrepo, CEO of Cable Mio, who also was part of the panel.

Jorge García, Operations Manager of Codisert, Colombia, said that due to the user’s demand for digital, they began their migration from analog to digital and already have an 80% digital grid. “We are using digital terrestrial TV, which is becoming widespread in Colombia, to offer a pay-TV service,” he added.

The good news for operators who want to go out with their OTT service is that they already have encoding solutions, which allow them to offer a service as good as the one provided by Netflix, said Thadeu Coelho, Bitmovin’s Director of Sales for Latin America. “The moment we are in today is very interesting because there are many companies like Bitmovin that allow smaller operators to keep their consumers on their platform,” he explained.