IPTV Message is Strong: Bring It
Though still prevalent and dominant in the paid TV market, digital cable and satellite TV services have some worthy competition in Internet Protocol Televison. IPTV enables video stream to be received and displayed through a series of Internet Protocol packets. The deep pockets of telecommunications companies such as AT&T and Verizon are leading the way, increasingly rolling out their services in more markets with the promise of a lag-free, high-resolution experience. Leveraging “triple play” offerings of voice, data and video, the telcos have already gotten a good start at revolutionizing the market and changing the way TV is sold.
DMB’s Contel Bradford recently interviewed Gary Schultz, president and principal analyst at Multimedia Research Group Inc., to get expert insight on the state of the IPTV market.
What should consumers know about the benefits of IPTV in comparison to traditional TV services?
Lots of new HD channels at a quality level visibly better than cable or satellite. More new services like remote DVR setting from your PC or cell phone, caller ID, weather updates etc, due to the IP structure. VOD on IPTV has as good a selection as anywhere.
Faster introduction of new services.
What type of technological advancements will it take to increase the number of IPTV subscribers over the next few years?
- IP and fiber upgrades will underpin many of the advances over the next 10 to 20 years.
- The availability of IMS infrastructure platforms will hasten the development of time shifting, place shifting, multi-platform distribution and cross-platform socialization services.
With major cable companies deciding to enforce bandwidth restrictions, do you see capacity being an issue?
Capacity and CapEx and OpEx are always issues, and will be for 1 to 2 decades. Cable and Telco competition will continue as quad-play performances get much better. We’re just at the start of that race, especially in North America.
What impact will the recent digital TV transition have on IPTV services?
It should help consumers get into the digital media space — even the late adapters will want HD after seeing it a few times. Again, movie-like quality is something anyone can notice and appreciate after watching a 24″ analog TV for 10 years. Both the Telcos and Cable companies can do a better job of converting people to digital — cable right now has better marketing on this subject.
What steps do you think the IPTV industry can take to improve the overall market?
- Better personalization of content and advertising without compromising privacy.
- Ever better bandwidth.
- Better energy-saving and smart-grid initiatives for residential users. The smart grid and IP are kissing cousins, technically; yet the cable companies and telcos are not helping consumers lower their power bills through better home networking devices.
- More flexibility and clarity on pricing, so individuals can buy tiers of services instead of large blocks of 30-plus channels just to get one or two desired ones.
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