OEN Turns Channel On To IPTV

By Khali Henderson

Just weeks before its commercial IPTV/triple-play launch in Houston in November, Optical Entertainment Network (OEN) launched a sales agent program to make its FISION digital IPTV service available to FTTH communities throughout the country shortcutting the contentdevelopment process and expense.

The program primarily is geared toward FTTH providers independent network owners, public utilities, competitive communications service providers, rural telecommunications providers, municipalities and real estate developers.

The second-tier opportunities are with entrepreneurs that sell communication services to MDUs or single-family homes, says Al Estrada, OENs chief marketing officer. If an entrepreneur has an incumbent business serving the commercial community or already provides video via satellite or cable [TV] to MDUs/commercial establishments and would like to upgrade their offering, then FISION IPTV is a great solution for them.

Through the program, OEN forms a distribution relationship with an FTTH provider and/or independent sales agent working with a fiber-connected community or building. The FTTH provider, after acquiring the rights to deliver video-based services within a community, markets FISION-branded IPTV programming services. OEN monitors and delivers FISION programming from its digital IPTV headend in Houston. It also maintains ownership of the subscriber and customer support for sales, programming and technical calls.

Estrada says the sales agent program eliminates the capital expenses and management resources required for FTTH communities to build, maintain and operate their own video headend and the need to negotiate IPTV agreements with content providers. Until now, it has been costprohibitive for small-to-medium-sized FTTH communities to build their own headend and offer IPTV services, says Estrada. It can cost $3 [million] – $5 million to build a digital IPTV headend and a year or more to acquire competitive IPTV agreements with leading cable TV networks and content providers.

OEN has acquired programming agreements for IPTV distribution of 400 television channels, including more than 50 high-definition channels.

Sales agents earn a commission, which is negotiated between OEN and the agent, based on the number of subscribers projected for a given community or market over a specified period of time. Estrada says the commission could be a one-time fee or also include a residual.