Comcast to do the heavy lifting for Deutsche Telekom's TV service

Deutsche Telekom's Magenta TV service has opted to migrate its back-end platform to Comcast's Cloud TV Suite (CTS).

Nick Wood

June 7, 2022

3 Min Read
Comcast to do the heavy lifting for Deutsche Telekom's TV service

Deutsche Telekom’s Magenta TV service has opted to migrate its back-end platform to Comcast’s Cloud TV Suite (CTS).

Deployment is already underway in Austria and will take place in other DT markets throughout 2022. The German incumbent said adopting CTS will harmonise the technology and services it uses for TV, enabling it to deliver a consistent experience across both devices and countries.

More specifically, it means Magenta TV will use the same cloud-based, centralised management platform for a whole host of back-end functions, including but not limited to video ingest and processing; workflow and metadata management; content protection; rights enforcement; data analytics and insights; and publishing across devices. It is backed by a service level agreement (SLA) and Comcast will also provide DT with technical support.

“At Deutsche Telekom, we are committed to delivering the ultimate, world-class TV entertainment experience, which centres around the customer, through Magenta TV. This means deploying the most modern, flexible, and scalable back-end management system,” said Pedro Bandeira, VP of product and new business at Deutsche Telekom.

“We selected Comcast Technology Solutions’ Cloud TV Suite because of its ability to address our needs with market-proven reliability and efficiency. Moving to this advanced new platform will enable us to further harmonise our product roadmaps, accelerate new service delivery, and enable consistent and seamless experiences across devices and our markets.”

This is all about finding new levers to pull that can make Magenta TV more competitive without killing profitability. As Deutsche Telekom noted in its most recent financial report, the TV market is already saturated in many of the countries in which it operates, thanks to a broad array of offers from both telcos and streaming services. At the end of March, it had just over 4 million TV customers, down from more than 5 million a year earlier.

In Germany, its TV strategy has shifted from customer volume to monetisation, with Srini Gopalan – who is MD of Deutsche Telekom’s domestic operation – noting on May’s results call that Magenta TV has increased the price of its introductory offer to €10 from €5.

Migrating Magenta TV’s back end to Comcast’s cloud-based platform should make for a leaner, meaner operation that can still offer all the bells and whistles for which customers are prepared to pay.

“We are extremely honoured that they selected our team to help support the next-generation of Magenta TV by adopting our versatile Cloud TV Suite,” said Ken Klaer, president of Comcast Technology Solutions and EVP of Comcast Cable. “We have an incredibly strong and collaborative relationship with Deutsche Telekom, and we look forward to helping them execute on their vision for the future.”

Meanwhile, on the mobile front, DT also announced this week it has begun offering 5G via 10 MHz of its 700-MHz spectrum in Germany. 3,000 antennas covering around 1,100 locations are up and running, helping the incumbent improve rural and indoor 5G coverage. All sites transmitting on 700 MHz also support 5G standalone, bringing the total number of standalone sites to 8,000.

“We want to offer our customers the best network at all times and everywhere,” said Walter Goldenits, head of technology at Deutsche Telekom. “We are thus reaching even more people nationwide with fast Internet and improving 5G coverage in rural areas.”

 

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About the Author

Nick Wood

Nick is a freelancer who has covered the global telecoms industry for more than 15 years. Areas of expertise include operator strategies; M&As; and emerging technologies, among others. As a freelancer, Nick has contributed news and features for many well-known industry publications. Before that, he wrote daily news and regular features as deputy editor of Total Telecom. He has a first-class honours degree in journalism from the University of Westminster.

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