Gone are the days of fixing antennas at the rooftop to obtain clearer pictures on your TVs. Thanks to technological advancements, the option of even rewinding programmes on Live TV has emerged.
While, the Western world has been availing such services for some time now, people in Bangladesh are yet to receive the same benefits. It might however change soon, as Amber IT, a leading IT company in Bangladesh, is going to introduce Live TV on the Over the Top Content (OTT) applications for the first time ever.
In broadcasting, OTT content refers to delivery of audio, video and other media over the internet without the involvement of a multiple-system operator in the control or distribution of the content.
In Bangladesh, several of the OTT apps have already been very popular for messaging and call services. The number of direct calls made per day in Bangladesh has already declined significantly due to the increasing use of OTT applications such as Skype, Viber and other apps.
Watching Live TV through OTT app however is a new concept in Bangladesh and Amber IT plans to grab that relatively new market.
Talking with Dhaka Tribune, MA Hakim, chief executive officer (CEO) of Amber IT said that they want to give the people better mobility by introducing Live TV through OTT apps. “People can download our apps in their phones to watch Live TV on the go,” he said.
Hakim said that this technology has already been introduced in many countries including our neighboring country India. In this era of internet and smart TVs, consumers are migrating to these services in greater numbers as word of mouth, concerning their relative affordability in contrast to monthly-pay TV contracts proliferates, elaborated the CEO of Amber IT. “Besides, unlike traditional TV, Live TV through OTT app has several options, which will grab the attention of the consumer,” he added.
Providing an example, Hakim said that they are going to add features like ‘catch up service’ in their TV service. In catch up service, one can rewind and go back in the Live coverage.
“Suppose you miss the first 30 minutes of a LIVE football match and you want to watch those missing parts. Our catch up service will help you to rewind the LIVE match and watch what you've missed,” said Hakim.
Amber IT’s app will also have the recording option, he continued, “Suppose you don’t want to miss a programme but at the same time you have some very important work to do, you can record the programme from the Live TV and you can watch that later on. "Besides those, we will incorporate ‘video on demand’ options," he added. Explaining about ‘video on demand’ option, he said video on demand (VOD) are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content when they choose to, rather than having to watch at a specific broadcast time.
Hakim said that aside from local users, they also target the expatriate Bangladeshis living in different countries who usually can’t watch the Bangladeshi channels except a few. Those expat Bangladeshis can install the app in their smart TV and can avail the services that Amber IT offer.
Also for the expat Bangladeshi subscribers, we will have set-top boxes. The set-top box is an information appliance device that generally contains a TV-tuner input, and displays output connects to a television set and an external source of signal, turning the source signal into content in a form that can then be displayed on the television screen or other displays.
Hakim said that they have already launched the service from September 1 on a test basis. “It will take four to five months to launch the full-fledged refined service because during the test phase, many issues including internet speed, video quality, subscribers feedback on improving service will be checked. We will have adaptive bit rate technology to ensure best quality of service. Adaptive bit rate technology checks the broadband speed at the subscriber’s end and fixes the resolution of the video according to the broadband speed. It will also fix the buffering time.”
They have already launched the service on the mobile platform. Their app is available in Android, iOS and Windows platforms. Anybody can download that and start watching Live TV through the app.
