In a recent chat with Alistair Forbes, Acentic’s former CEO, we got talking about differences between mainstream digital TV services for the public at large and those in Hotel TV systems.
I realised during our chat that hospitality has surmounted some specific challenges that could teach a lesson or two to mainstream TV services.
Since then, I’ve been browsing through Acentic’s blog and come to realise that hospitality TV also has some key advantages over mainstream TV. In fact, when I add them up, there’s actually more things that are real challenges for mainstream IPTV and much easier to achieve in a hospitality environment.
Foremost amongst these is the ability to deliver a predictable quality of experience or ‘QoE’. The technical service delivery is facilitated in particular by the in-room networking, which is for example fully known in a hotel, contrary to home networks. I’m not saying it’s easy, just that it is manageable or at least predictable.
On the content side, hotel IPTV has some key advantages too with access to premium content well before it is available in people’s homes. Also on the content side, hotels usually cater for short stays and can offer a much-reduced line-up of on demand content, concentrating on blockbuster and adult where appropriate. The VoD navigation / recommendation issue may still be hard to solve, but at least it is solvable contrary to mainstream TV services that are currently totally lost on this issue. Many recommendation platforms are vying for position but none have yet provided a convincing solution to the VoD problem on the sitting room TV. The best efforts seen so far, in the mainstream area, are from the likes of Comcast or Roku and are more based on a slick graphical representation of the content than recommendation itself. Netflix is the movie recommendation standard by which others measure themselves but isn’t really a TV service, yet.
So much for what a mainstream TV consultant like myself could contribute to hospitality TV. But what are some of the lessons I could I try to learn to bring back to my mainstream customers?
Hospitality TV services have faced two obstacles that none of today’s mainstream TV service could defeat. Both are linked to the user.
First, there is the 15-second factor I mentioned in a recent Videonet blog. A hotel visitor will devote about that length of time to the room’s TV set initially. If she gets the feeling that there is something worthwhile there, she might explore a bit more, but rewards must always come in seconds.
This brings us a fundamental issue in user interface design. When I was a software developer back in the 9O’s, the graphical user interface design would phase would start with a look at whether the intended user base would be made up of casual-users or power-users. A casual-user, like a hotel guest, has very little time to invest in learning the way around an interface, whereas a power-user typically uses the interface for hours at a time and is more interested in shortcuts than user friendliness. In trying to resolve this conundrum we often went too far to one extreme. Even power users want some friendliness and even newbies need a bit of power…
Hospitality TV vendors that serve both Hotel and Hospitals will be aware of this issue as they serve the two extreme cases: people who still have their coat on as they flick through the TV menu wondering whether to go out and bed-ridden patients that have all day to understand where to find the service they want.
The second domain where hospitality TV has a lot to teach is in serving a user base that is a fast moving target. Hotels have guests from all countries of the world. Language is the most obvious issue, but other subtler aspects can be harder to capture like respecting the Sabbath, hiding adult content or showing the weather of a visitor’s hometown. Channels are often available in the hundreds and VoD content in the thousands.

I hope one day my work will take me into the hospitality sector to have this exchange. I’m sure there’s a lot more we have to share than what I mention here. In the meantime there is a clear challenge ahead for both mainstream and hospitality TV: a meaningful integration of Over-The-Top content so that the Web enriches the TV experience without jeopardising its business model.

Ben Schwarz publishes on Videonet News (www.v-net.tv) and on his own blog http://www.ctoic.net

It's always interesting to see the evolution of a trade show and the time it takes for the technology highlighted there to actually reach consumers. Within the broadcast industry, the key show in Europe is what we’re all talking about, IBC. IBC covers just about every field of broadcasting from content management to studio mixing all the way through to interactive services for viewers and satellite transmission. As such Acentic attends every year because whilst the hotel industry has its only specificities when it comes to technology its is important to use proven standards and to understand what will hit the living rooms in the future.

Ten years ago when Acentic first started visiting IBC, Digital TV and Video on Demand were the buzz words at the show, its fascinating to see that only now are consumers starting to receive VoD services at home. That’s a ten-year lag for the most mature consumer markets, probably a lot longer for many emerging markets. Interestingly enough, back then hotels were already offering VoD providing guests with total control over recently released blockbusters. For the last 3 to 4 years it has been High Definition Television that has taken the front stage at IBC with all sorts of predictions about consumer take up and services. We don’t think HDTV will take over ten years to develop - in fact HD broadcast services are starting to develop rapidly in Europe, whether its via PayTV providers or free to air offerings through digital terrestrial. HD VoD however has yet to take off significantly.

At Acentic, we believe its important to work with leading industry players in order to deploy HD VoD to hotels before it even figures on the service offerings of most consumer providers. The industry needs to work together with standards based systems so that cost effective HD solutions can be rolled out to the hotel industry bringing a new exciting viewing experience to guests, an experience which guests may once again have to wait several years to see in their living room.


Visit our link on the IBC 2009 official blog:
http://www.v-net.tv/BlogDisplay.aspx?id=141

How many of us get stressed out during travel? Whether it’s for business or for pleasure, travelling puts a toll on your mind and body. If you’re in a luxury hotel, just being away from home and daily comforts, not to mention however you travelled to get there, can put you through stress. When you’re very stressed it is difficult to free yourself from it through standard relaxation.  Acentic’s executives know this as well as anyone, which is why when we were brainstorming new content for our system and the idea about some stress-busting videos came up, we jumped on it! Acentic is finalising this new programme with Meditainment to develop a new approach to stress release through deep relaxation and health and wellness videos. The videos will take the hotel guest to paradise unwinding, calming the mind, and guiding them to relaxation. A spokesperson from Meditainment said, “It's a natural progression to take these wellness and relaxation programmes into the in-room environment to aide guests with getting the most from their stay by providing programmes that can help them get to sleep, deal with stress and get totally relaxed. Acentic is a true pioneer in the area of in-room entertainment, and we are thrilled to be collaborating with them to make hotel guests' stay as stress-free as possible."

Thanks Meditainment! We love your relaxation programmes and look forward to letting our guests make good use of them as well. We’ll be rolling this content out to hotels across Europe over the course of 2009 to allow guests to take advantage of these relaxation programmes and get themselves into a state of complete leisure.

What event is happening this week where you can see Quentin Tarantino’s new movie? It’s the same place that was featured on the HBO show, Entourage, when the boys screened their movie there; it will be the place that screens Heath Ledger’s very last film and this week it will host all of Hollywood’s elite?  The answer is: Cannes Film Festival, one of the oldest, most influential and prestigious film festivals in the world. This year Acentic will be there! Well, we’ll be there with our digital TV system in the hotels of Cannes showing a new trailer area on the hotel’s TV system to coincide with the festival.

Acentic’s all new Welcome Page now includes a dedicated movie trailer area. Acting as the ‘default’ page on the iTV platform, this page is enabled the minute the guests are checked into their room, meaning that as soon as they step into their bedroom, they know exactly what great movies are playing in the hotel.

It’s good for the hotel because the Welcome Page is a great platform to support the hotels branding and brings with it the additional dynamic of playing movie trailers helping to increase revenue. It’s also good for the guest because they need to stay on top of what films are out there if they’re going to be rubbing elbows with Francis Ford Coppola and Brad Pitt.

Cannes visitors (whether they are launching a film, career or reputation or just visiting in the hopes of running into celebrities) can relax in their room and check out the trailers for new films that are available to watch on demand.

Everyone has been there, you’re stuck in your hotel room and there is nothing to do – maybe your flight got cancelled, or you’re staying in a quiet town for work. There is nothing to keep you occupied but the hotel TV. All you want is to be able to bring your favorite programs with you.

Lots of hotels are beginning to see this need and they’re starting to add short content on demand to add to the standard movie selection. Lots of time you just don’t have the concentration for a full-length movie, but you would like to zone out and laugh to your favorite Friends episode or chill out with the nature show, Planet Earth. Acentic has partnered up with content providers to allow hotels to show guests the comedy, drama, documentaries, nature shows, etc that they would watch if they were at home (Planet Earth, Friends and others like the award winning hospital drama, ER and the BBC’s classic comedy, Fawlty Towers).

In an evermore stressful working environment - and trading conditions - what better way to relax, than to dip into some of the ‘self-help’ programming available on demand. Guests can select the programme to suit their needs, with titles that guarantee to give you a good nights sleep, and leave you full of confidence and reinvigorated for the day ahead. You could even make the most of your hotel stay and workout with an on-demand yoga class!

Last night I slept in a major airport hotel in order to catch an early flight in the morning. Despite current economic conditions, the hotel was very busy, with many taking advantage of the great public areas- catchy design and well laid out catering for those that wanted a bar experience, lounge experience or business area. The in-room experience was however in stark contrast to the public areas. There was only an old and extremely small CRT with a remote control that belonged to another age and no interactive TV. Several light years away from the hotel’s claim to be contemporary and to give guests a comfort level similar to that of their own home. It is in fact, interesting that a minority of hotels have decided to move away from interactive TV and video on demand claiming it to be outdated and non-economical. A look at the real world shows quite the contrary: Never have so many consumers had access to true video-on-demand at home, with millions benefiting from on-demand services provided by the PayTv and Telco operators. For example, UPC Netherlands reported 34 million VoD streams in 2008 which is approximately 3 to 4 sessions a month for its subscribers. Clear evidence that video-on-demand, or non-linear V as it is sometimes called, is becoming a given for consumers with a clear willingness to subscribe and pay for such services. Ignoring this could lead some hotels to be increasingly disconnected from their guests' needs.

Pornography is a subjective term which doesn’t in anyway reflect more specific content than sex. It seems to be any depiction of sex, in fact, to which the person using the word objects to and finds disapproving.  I much prefer the genre adult entertainment, or AE to save ink.

Because AE is often available in hotel rooms, I am regularly asked if the current explosion in technology and content, plus the X and Y generations, will lead to the demise of such content?

Alas...it's unlikely.

At the dawn of every new media, it has been AE that has grown quickest and often to be the largest. From early cave paintings of 40,000 years ago, to the printing press, to TV and DVD and, of course, the Internet - AE has proliferated. It does appear to go on and on. The most recent research published by XBIZ research shows that the industry showed substantial growth in 2008 and 70% of adult businesses were expecting moderate to substantial growth in 2009.

The current economic correction may slow things down a little whilst the AE industry awaits a new wave on which to ride...3D perhaps??