TM Forum swallows fellow IP-focused group

The TM Forum has put a major emphasis in recent months on partner collaboration and enabling the content value chain, including its Content Encounter series of exhibitions and aided by its service delivery specification work.

One of the lessons it has learned is that primary content providers -- such as movie or record companies – are a step removed from caring about issues such as how incumbent carriers fit into the digital value chain, Creamer said. “The whole delivery mechanism is alien to content owners,” he said.

Rather it is content distributors – media companies, content aggregators and even content delivery networks – that want and need to know more about service provider capabilities and partnership offerings in the content value chain, Creamer said.

Those sorts of companies may not be as flashy as Hollywood players, but they represent more likely customers for carrier services and a greater focus in future TM Forum content efforts, he said.