NEW ORLEANS – Following in the controversial footsteps of MSO Cablevision Systems, EchoStar is building a new network-based DVR for a major undisclosed customer believed to be Dish Network, a top EchoStar executive revealed here earlier this week.
Speaking at the Cloud Services Summit, a part of the TelcoTV show, EchoStar Chief Product Officer John Paul said the equipment vendor intends to deliver the new nDVR to its first customer by the end of the year (It’s also worth noting here that EchoStar is Bell TV’s satellite TV technology supplier). Paul also indicated that the new set-top box will closely resemble the network-based DVR that Cablevision has begun deploying in parts of the New York metro area, after winning a heated legal battle with content providers over its rights to do so that went all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
What this means is that EchoStar's nDVR will be designed to store the individual programs that each customer records and won't back up that data. As a result, if the box’s hard drive fails, all recorded programs will be lost. "We have to replicate the [Cablevision] model because of the [Supreme Court] ruling," said Paul, referring to DVR Plus, the name of Cablevision's new court-approved remote-storage DVR
In an interview later with Light Reading Cable, Paul said EchoStar doesn't intend to create one huge, centralized storage facility for recorded content. Instead, he said, the vendor will seek to put storage on the network "as close to the end user as you can … probably in the city in which the customer lives." He stressed that this content delivery network (CDN) approach, combined with the adoption of adaptive bit rate technology, will provide significant bandwidth and cost savings.
Paul admitted that engineers "just hate" the idea of having to create a system that stores individual copies because it's far less efficient than delivering multiple streams from one piece of programming. Nevertheless, he said, EchoStar officials believe the concept will scale well and will prove to be economical.
"If you run the numbers [on a network DVR] versus putting [storage] in the home, it works,” he said. “But most people don't run those numbers."
Paul added that EchoStar will rely on inexpensive storage drives to create even more appealing economics. Further, he said, the company has looked at deploying single appliances that can support up to 5,000 customers.
Paul said EchoStar is on track to deliver its nDVR product to its first customer by January. While he wouldn’t reveal that initial customer, corporate cousin Dish Network has historically gotten first crack at any new products churned out by the technology spinoff. EchoStar, which previously developed a family of set-tops that incorporate Sling Media’s place-shifting technology, also pitches its products to telcos and cable operators.
Alan Breznick is a Toronto-based senior analyst at Heavy Reading, part of the Light Reading Communications Network at UBM TechWeb. He covered the TelcoTV conference this week in New Orleans for Cartt.ca.
