For Israel Gómez Castruita, the main challenge of the industry is not in technology but in the change of the business model.
Comtelsat began working since it was founded 25 years ago by Manuel Arrollo with media technology issues. Their DNA comes from satellite transmission and they have been evolving according to market conditions.
"The founder of the group had a clear vision, there were no companies that did integration at that time, there were many that only sold equipment that depended on manufacturers and integrators outside of Mexico. This is how they put together a working group with a lot of experience and different points of view, thinking about the client with turnkey projects," Israel Gómez Castruita, Director of Media and Entertainment at Comtelsat, told TVyVideo+Radio.
Then, in another evolution of the business, they carry out projects, operate them, give support. They can offer all the technology and staff. This is how since 2010 the Fox Sports studios operate in Mexico, owning the technology and providing preventive and corrective technical support. What they don't get involved in is the final product. In 2014 they signed the same model with Espn.
State of the industry in Mexico
According to Israel Gómez Castruita, in Mexico today we are in a very big transformation from the point of view of the business. To a content generator the revenue comes on the other hand, not necessarily from the sale of advertising as it was before.
"The change of technology, going from analog to digital and then to HD, did not impact the business, they continued to sell commercials, subscribers. The business model was the same. But right now the problem is not technical, it's business, because now that there are all those direct-to-consumer strategies of content generators, across multiple devices, with the offer of packages on demand, and the advertising investment is divided the same cake into many more slices, the problem is business. "
He added that this is the challenge facing the industry. The technology is ready, the channels in Mexico are very mature in their migration to HD and higher resolutions, all broadcasting in digital. Mexico, due to its proximity to the United States, has followed not so far all these changes in technology. "There is a technically very competitive industry internationally, there are great professionals in the industry, success stories from sports, soap operas, fiction. I think Mexico has a very powerful industry."
Pay TV doesn't think about 4K
The Comtelsat executive stressed that in the talks with his clients, due to their type of content, today they do not see a strong reason to think about a 100% implementation in IP or change to 4K, because their business in distribution is by Pay TV and in Mexico Pay TV is largely SD and some HD. Therefore, making an investment for 4K is not worth it, because no one is going to consume you in 4K, it does not make a difference.
"I believe that many technological developments are very good intentions, but that does not guarantee that they will be achieved. Migrating to IP makes a lot of sense, but it's not something you can do in a cost-effective way that serves the business. Moving all the baseband equipment to IP, requires changing everything or using a large number of interfaces that added to the cost of IP technology, ends up being highly expensive. Today I can mount IP but there are still things missing that in two or three years will be complete, "he said.
Trending
On the technological trends for the future for the industry, Israel Gómez Castruita said:
- You must take full advantage of the cloud, which will enhance security, file compression, networks, connectivity, content distribution.
- Virtualization.
- Remote production will make costs more efficient.
- 5G is going to have a big impact on the industry.
