India’s GTPL Deploys Harmonic’s Software-Based Unified Video Headend System for Cable TV, OTT

GTPL, India’s digital cable TV distribution company, which reaches an estimate of more than 8 million households in more than 189 cities, has deployed a next-generation software-based unified video headend system from Harmonic. At the heart of the solution is Harmonic’s Electra X2 advanced media processor that supports MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC and HEVC encoding for both traditional cable television and live OTT multiscreen services, saving GTPL significant space and power consumption.

“To remain competitive in the television distribution space, we needed to further differentiate our offering with compelling content, deliver higher video quality at a lower cost of operation and prepare for OTT” says Aniruddhsinh Jadeja, managing director at GTPL Hathway. “Harmonic provides us with a complete headend solution for CATV and live OTT, with distribution of up to 650 cable television channels and 50 OTT channels from a unified management system.

We can also support advanced features such as graphic overlay and scroll insertion, which are integral to our business. We are currently delivering live TV and have plans to explore catch-up TV, nPVR and 4K video in the future to provide an even better viewing experience to subscribers.”

According to Frost & Sullivan, there are approximately 66 million unique connected video viewers in India, and about 1.3 million OTT paid video subscribers. The ability to support CATV and live OTT services from a unified headend provides interoperability capabilities, operational efficiency and opens up revenue opportunities for GTPL by enabling the operator to launch OTT offerings when ready.