Digital & Connected TV Russia 2013: convergence of TV and the Internet

The 4th International Conference «Digital Broadcasting and New Ways of Video Content Delivery. Interactive Services in Modern Networks – Digital & Connected TV Russia 2013» organized by ComNews Conferences was held on 26th March in Holiday Inn Moscow Lesnaya Hotel. The Conference became a major event for the pay-TV market participants and was endorsed by the National Association of TV broadcasters (NAT), the Cable Television Association of Russia (CTAR) and the Russian Association of Electronic Communications (RAÈK).  Tricolor TV was an official partner of the Conference, Eutelsat became a Gold Sponsor. The Conference was held with the participation of Verimatrix, Rikor TV, IneoQuest Technologies, CDNvideo, Ericsson and BCC.

The plenary session was opened by Chief Research Scientist of FGUP NIIR Mark Krivosheev. He reported on launching the «Concept of the broadcasting development in Russia in 2015-2020/25 years».
«Basic Concept theses are already approved in the global scale and Russia can firmly follow this path» said Mr. Krivosheev.

Regional Vice President of Eutelsat S.A. Nikolay Orlov outlined the prospects of «future television» and shared the plans of this satellite operator to introduce new services. According to him, Eutelsat has started test operation of ultrahigh-definition channel (Ultra HD 4 k).

Andrey Holodnij, Media assets management Director at Rostelecom talked about the role of additional services in TV operators’ profits. He noted that the development strategy of this operator on the pay-TV market is a multifunctional TV available for everyone from all client devices and not only for «Rostelecom» subscribers, but for the whole Internet.

The round table «Internet broadcasting – looking into the future» with Vladimir Livshits, Head of Information and analytical Center, Advisor to President of NAT and Mikhail Silin, Vice President of Association of Cable Television of Russia (AKTR) as moderators caused particular interest for the participants.

Among participants of round table were Sergey Koshlyakov, CEO, Digital Television (VGTRK); Mikhail Kovalchuk, CEO, Signal Media; Anna Sopova, PR Director, Tricolor TV; Igor Rostov, Deputy CEO, TNT; Oleg Leonov, Head of Sales and Service Department, TTK and Genrikh Jushkyavichus, Adviser to CEO, UNESCO.
The speakers discussed the following questions: Infrastructure development for digital broadcasting; regional TV channels in multiplex and off-air environments; operators and broadcasters cooperation models; the digital dividend and the need for frequencies conversion for broadcasting purposes, etc.

 
The session after lunch was devoted to IPTV, cable and satellite operators as well as to the best strategies and models of service provision on modern media market. The final session touched on the question of changing relations between telecom operators, Internet broadcasters and TV companies.

Over 150 delegates attended Digital Connected TV Russia & 2013 Conference. During the event there was exhibition with participation of such companies as Verimatrix, CDNvideo and BCC.
All attendees of “Digital & Connected TV Russia 2013” highly rated the Conference level as well as the opportunity for new business contacts.
The next COMNEWS Conference dedicated to the pay-TV market development in Russia will take place on March 26, 2014 in Moscow.