Cannes, France: If it seemed strange that the head of a telecom company was a keynote speaker at a content market, then be reassured for according to Didier Lombard, chairman and CEO, France Telecom, the two sectors –content and telecommunications – were made for one another. He justified this on the basis that a telecom can give greater value to content and likewise, content is the “oxygen’ of his networks.
Lombard’s keynote at MIPTV on Wednesday was addressed against the background of an announcement on Monday that France Telecom had decided to partner with content professionals and for that reason had launched Orange Cinema Series. They have signed multi-year agreements with Warner, HBO, Gaumont and Fidelite Films, including rights to exclusive releases of all Warner films and HBO series. France Telecom also proposed to offer customers “bespoke’ content with Orange Cinema Series. On the one hand they will have six “traditional’ premium channels which deliver a programme schedule of films and series. On the other hand, content can be viewed through Video on Demand (VOD), catch up TV and download from one screen to another – TV, PC and Mobile.
The question whether France Telecom-Orange has suddenly become a media company was passe for today, said Lombard, for one only has “to look around – at social networks, blogs, wikis – to understand that everyone has become a media company’. Individuals are able to distribute one form or another of different content, whether text, music, video, etc. “Consumers themselves are producing content and putting it online: the so-called user generated content (UDC). Last year, in California, the amount of UGC for the first time surpassed the amount of traditional online content.’
The traditional television model, he pointed out, was one broadcaster servicing an audience with multi channels via satellite or cable. Television is “based on the same customer experience model, limited by its technology’.
He pointed out that today most users have the connectivity and screens they want to benefit from the digital world. “My analysis, my vision is that from now on they want two simple things: Firstly, to access quality content. Secondly, absolute and universal flexibility and interactivity: content where and when they wan t it.’
Users no longer want to be tied to a set programme schedule. They still wanted quality programming but they wanted it personalised to their needs, that is available in a “delinearised’ manner, for instance VOD or catch up TV that makes it possible to watch a show after it was broadcast. Another demand from customers was to obtain a service which allowed them to interface with three screens – the PC, TV and mobile.
“Only telecoms networks can offer this flexibility and this interactivity.’
Another advantage offered by telecoms networks are that they are interactive. “They make it possible for all users, rather than being passive at the end of the line, instead to be an active hub contributing to a multitude of networks: Personal, social, cultural or professional networks.’
