It’s the question on everyone’s mind: “Is TV Everywhere really everywhere?” While TV Everywhere (TVE) has made leaps and bounds – according to a recent ABI Research report close to one in three U.S. households that subscribe to telco TV are predicted to access TVE services by the end of this year – there are still some hurdles it must overcome in order to really compete with the likes of over-the-top (OTT) providers such as Netflix and Hulu.In this three-part series, we will explore the top three biggest challenges TVE faces including: secure authentication, lack of bandwidth and advertising.

Secure Authentication

One of the biggest obstacles of TVE adoption is secure authentication. With standard television all a user has to do is press “on,” lean back, and enjoy their favorite programming. However, with TVE services, users have to enter complicated credentials, taking the ease and simplicity away. Moreover, some believe that the authentication process is intrusive and frustrating for users as they are forced to juggle several apps, devices, and passwords. There’s also the looming threat of content theft, which will only increase as operators get more ambitious about offering up more content on a number of devices.

So what can service providers do to streamline the authentication process? GLDS’ WinCAP subscriber authentication platform is a content authorization platform in which customers can manage all of their TVE access from one centralized portal. GLDS is the only billing vendor offering fully integrated, real-time subscriber authorization. With WinCAP, not only do customers have access to online content immediately, but content providers are granted a single point of contact for authorizing content.

Be sure to stay tuned for part two of this series in which we’ll discuss the second TVE hurdle – lack of bandwidth.