Franciso Varela, YouTube's Global Director of Platform Partnerships, recently met DTH companies in India, exploring partnerships with them. YouTube, in a sense, is trying to be the largest mult-system-operator in the world, providing video content on demand over the Internet. In a sense, it is competing with DTH players, which led us to question the rationale of YouTube looking to partner with their competitors. In the second part of this interview (read Part 1 here), we speak with Varela about why he met cable operators and DTH companies in India, and how YouTube wants to work with them: Medianama: Why would you talk to cable providers and DTH providers? You're trying to be the MSO via the Internet. Why would you tie up with some of these guys? Varela: When you turn on the TV, I get my Cable provider. My live TV comes on first. Working with IPTV providers just provides us with a lower barrier to entry. Virgin media in the U.K are one of the largest cable company in the world and also our partner. Virgin Media includes YouTube as part of its electronic channel 199. Medianama: I can understand YouTube being there but how would you work with DTH providers? Varela: It is about solving the basic question - how do you provide the YouTube application on those boxes? Medianama: But there is no Internet connectivity and return path on DTH. Varela: You can still provide Internet connectivity through Wi-Fi modem or other options. The issue is not the connectivity but to make…
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