HISPASAT and NAGRA to launch wholesale OTT service in Latin America

Wednesday, March 9th, 2022 
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HISPASAT and NAGRA reach an agreement for the joint launch of a wholesale OTT service in Latin America

  • Both companies have signed an agreement for the joint roll-out and marketing of this wholesale service in the region, which will be available in the Spring of 2022.
  • This new service complements HISPASAT’S offer of audiovisual services, which was strengthened last year with the acquisition from Telefónica of the video signal transport and management business of Media Networks Latin America.

​​​​​​​MADRID — HISPASAT, the Spanish operator and satellite solutions and services provider of the Red Eléctrica Group, has reached an agreement with NAGRA, the world’s leading independent provider of streaming, content protection and monetization solutions for digital television, to develop a wholesale OTT (Over-The-Top) television solution. While its launch is planned for Spring of 2022, a demonstration is now available for interested clients. The service will enable pay-TV operators, Internet service providers (ISPs) and regional content companies to offer their clients a high-quality multiscreen entertainment service that is distributed through the Internet without having to roll out their own infrastructure. This reduces both the initial investment and the time needed to launch this type of solution.

Within the framework of this collaboration, HISPASAT will provide the video processing infrastructure at its teleport in Lurin (Peru), including the receipt of linear content (TV channels) and on-demand content, as well as its coding and publication. Powered by the NAGRA OpenTV Video Platform and Harmonic’s VOS®360 cloud streaming solution, HISPASAT customers will be able to promote, curate, and monetize content.

With tools for content aggregation, offer management, bundling and pricing, content management and app layout visualization, the NAGRA solution will also include content security capabilities such as multi-DRM. In addition, through its UX framework, NAGRA will be responsible for developing user applications for set-top box and streaming devices, including smart TVs which will be personalised for operators who are clients of the service.

HISPASAT will be responsible for the entire operation of the service from the teleport of Lurin, Peru, where it has an experienced team of professionals that currently operates several TV platforms via satellite for the main South American operators.

For Javier Izquierdo, managing director of HISPASAT Perú, “This agreement opens a new branch in our offer as a wholesale video service provider, which was consolidated at the start of last year with the acquisition of the of the video signal transport and management business of Media Networks Latin America, and strengthens our leading position in the region. Thanks to this agreement with NAGRA, we will complement our satellite services with a product that provides a solid response to the growing demand for linear streaming and Internet on-demand solutions in the region.”

Nancy Goldberg, EVP and Chief Marketing & Sales Officer at NAGRA, added “This new wholesale service will allow HISPASAT customers to include a new OTT service as part of their existing offer that optimizes roll-out costs, time-to-market and is adaptable to their specific needs. We’re delighted to empower HISPASAT to deliver additional value to regional service providers in Latin America and enable them, through a fully-featured solution, to aggregate content, drive consumer engagement and accelerate digital transformation through which they can address new audiences.”

The functionalities of HISPASAT and NAGRA’s OTT service will enable regional service providers to select content, thanks to transport rights from HISPASAT, manage subscriber offerings via the NAGRA OpenTV Video Platform, and distribute the solution via an operator branded app published in the major app stores. It will also leverage the latest technological features, which include Catch-Up TV and PVR (Personal Video Recorder) network, multiple audios and subtitles, EPG (Electronic Program Guide) and reverse EPG, TimeShift, management of recordings, parental control, content search and recommender. In addition, it will deliver both linear channels and VoD (Video On Demand) services, and be offered through user applications on different devices, including smart TVs and Set-Top-Box (STB) hybrids.

Links: Nagra; Hispasat