The National Cable Television Cooperative announced that more than 100 of its members were using its TV Everywhere platform, which is known as WatchTVEverywhere (WTVE).
Since most smaller cable operators lack the resources to build and deploy their own multi-screen service, the NCTC came up with its own authenticated platform to offer to its affiliates. MCTV, formerly Massillon Cable, worked with CableLabs to develop a TV Everywhere service, which was subsequently adopted by the NCTC and branded WTVE.
“WTVE is the only way as a small system we could afford to offer this innovative service to our cable customers,” said NCTC member Paul Venturella of RMA Broadband and Cable TV. “NCTC and WTVE have made offering TVE service easy.”
Venturella said that customer feedback has been positive and he was confident that the service has helped his company reduce subscriber churn.
One of the key virtues of the WTVE platform is its ability to support the wide range of billing systems that its members use. The NCTC said it has WTVE member affiliates with fewer than 500 subscribers using the platform all the way up to MSOs with as many as 200,000 subscribers.
The WTVE platform has accelerated integrations and now includes more than 50 major programming services, according to the NCTC.
“It is very gratifying to see the WTVE platform gain such widespread acceptance by the major content providers, leading authentication companies (like Adobe and Akamai) and enjoy great popularity among the members,” said NTC president and CEO Rich Fickle. “WTVE was designed to give NCTC members an equal footing in the TV Everywhere environment. Few NCTC members have the in-house programming talent required to develop, maintain and improve an authentication platform. At the same time, many third-party platforms can be prohibitively expensive for smaller operators.
“The WTVE platform enables NCTC to deliver a viable solution to its members at a fraction of the expense yet ensuring integrity in managing content rights between operators and content providers. MCTV has been a great partner exhibiting the true spirit of a cooperative effort.”
The NCTC’s Independent Show will take place July 28-31 in San Diego.
