Denying customer demand for OTT video services such as Netflix is “ridiculous”, BT Group CEO Gavin Patterson (pictured) said, highlighting the importance of being selective in content creation and acquisition.

BT invested heavily in the UK market to win broadcast rights to the exclusive football and other sports, but stayed clear of “expensive entertainment productions” in favour of aggregating content from local broadcasters and OTTs for BT TV.

During the keynote on Creating Better Content and Media, the CEO said BT opted for sport coverage as it was “focused on the country itself” and due to the “strength of the relationship it has with the local audience.”

Jeremy Fox , Atrium TV CEO, added converged operators should primarily look to create specific content for local markets in addition to forming partnerships for larger productions.

“If you’re BT you need to do the sport, if you’re Nordics you need local programmes, if you’re Orange you need to do programmes in French, if you’re Deutsche Telekom you need to do programmes in German,” he said.

While other speakers centred on competing with or embracing OTTs, HTC chairwoman Cher Wang talked-up 5G-based virtual reality as the future of content that could provide experiences to transform the whole mobile industry.

“Cloud computing over 5G will enable every single VR and AR terminal to be the most powerful device in the world,” she said. “Smartphones may look different from the shiny rectangles we know today and take on other forms as 5G reduces the need for device-based computing power. The screen may be away from the smartphone and displayed on our AR or VR devices – or even directly projected into our eyes.”