The closing day of NPlay 2017, organized by Grupo Convergencia, began with the discussion table on "Business model around Internet video". Ariel Hernández, executive vice president of Antina, said that "it's an exaggeration that people flee from traditional TV to TV on demand, as if it were an exodus". He explained, for example, that the low-income public continues to demand linear service and not services like Netflix, because there is no good connectivity and the infrastructure is not prepared to offer that service. "If one arrives and develops, sales are made. The use of OTT has no difference in the socio-economic level", he warned. With regard to the prepaid TV model offered by Antina, -aimed at a public for a lower socioeconomic level- he said that it allows to define when to watch television, is self-installable and offered in places near the transmission tower. The top-up is made with a card and both the basic product, as well as the Premium one, adult and HD content may be obtained.
Gustavo Castro, Head of Video Content at Telefónica, assured that the technological issue is not minor and that there is a traffic avalanche that doubles because 70% is video. In addition, OTT marks a new business model, which erodes the ARPU, for example with Whatsapp. He said that in Argentina there is a relative success because "on the other side there is a monster with Netflix" but that the point in favor is that the greater traffic on demand in the country goes through local content. For Castro, the television on demand is "a good complement to the TV when there is nothing interesting".
The representative of Telefónica considered that the OTT obliges all providers to reinvent themselves and to improve their broadband offer. Other of the axes for Castro is the Big data that can change the consumption of contents. He said that it is necessary to focus on seeing how to take advantage of all Internet data and recalled that Telefónica has just released Aura, so that the customer decides what to do with its data. Nevertheless, I criticize that in the country "incorporating new technologies takes more than it should, because although there is innovation, regulation does not accompany".
Consulted on how to deal with the new business model, Javier Foresi, manager of Cooperativa Colonia Caroya and Jesús María, said that in the case of his cooperative, the goal is to bring more subscribers, have a fiber connection in each household and that the customer chooses what he wants to watch. Currently 40% of users of Colonia Caroya and Jesús María, watch TV on demand. "For us it's a matter of being an alternative and competing", he said. In addition, a local application for the transmission of local news, which is used by between 10 or 15% of customers on mobile devices was developed. Foresi said that "66% of subscribers are still with copper and we struggle until we achieve full migration to fiber".