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This article is about Internet Protocol Television. For the television network in Iowa, see Iowa Public Television.

IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) describes a system where a digital television service is delivered to subscribing consumers using the Internet Protocol over a broadband connection. This service is often provided in conjunction with Video on Demand and may also include Internet services such as Web access and VOIP where it may be called Triple Play and is typically supplied by a broadband operator using the same infrastructure. Perhaps a simpler definition would be television content that, instead of being delivered through the traditional format, is received by the viewer through the technologies used for the World Wide Web.

In the past, this technology has been nearly impossible with slow dial-up download speeds inhibiting any form of video content to be received. Now, however, IPTV is expected to grow at a brisk pace in the coming years as broadband is now available to more than 100 million households worldwide. Many of the world's major telecommunications providers are exploring IPTV as a new revenue opportunity from their existing markets and as a defensive measure against encroachment from more conventional Cable Television services.

Architecture

IPTV is a service that will likely first be offered by telephone companies and then added to other current television carriers later. Because it uses the Internet and sends less information than standard analog or digital television, IPTV promises lower costs for operators and lower prices for consumers. Using set-top boxes with broadband Internet connections, video can be streamed to households more efficiently than current coaxial cable. AT&T and Verizon have both upgraded or plan to upgrade their networks with fiber-optic technology to bring higher speeds across their networks. In addition to higher speeds, Digital Video Recorders (DVR), such as TiVo, will be able to record multiple programs at once and improve current program guides.

Protocols

IPTV covers both live TV (multicasting) as well as stored video (Video on Demand VOD). The playback of IPTV requires either a personal computer or a "set-top box" connected to a TV. Video content is typically MPEG2TS delivered via IP Multicast, a method in which information can be sent to multiple computers at the same time, with the newly released H.264 format thought to replace the older MPEG-2. In standards-based IPTV systems, the primary underlying protocols used for IPTV are IGMP version 2 for channel change signaling for live TV and RTSP for Video on Demand.

Currently, the only alternatives to IPTV are traditional TV distribution technologies such as terrestrial, satellite and cable TV. However, cable can be upgraded to two-way capability and can thus also carry IPTV.

Another alternative is (Video on Demand VOD). VOD in the US is usually delivered over cable TV using the DVB protocol and is not labelled IPTV services.

Advantages

'''' Advantages of IPTV include two-way capability lacked by traditional TV distribution technologies, as well as point-to-point distribution allowing each viewer to view individual broadcasts. This enables stream control (pause, wind/rewind etc.) and a free selection of programming much like its narrowband cousin, the web.

Tripleplay is an expression used by service operators describing a consumer package including telephony, data and video. Offering tripleplay on a broadband connection requires the use of IPTV and IP Telephony (Voice over IP, VoIP).''''

Market Prospects for IPTV

According to report from the Washington DC-based Dittberner Associates Inc. the incremental IPTV equipment market will only reach $336 Million in 2013 up from $30 Million in 2005.

Dittberner forecasts the number of IPTV subscribers will reach 53 Million globally in 2013 from about 2 Million as of end of 2005.

“Other studies on IPTV’s effect on network equipment market growth ignore the fact that most IPTV subscribers over the next seven years will be high-speed Internet access subscribers already,” reports James Heath, Director, Broadband research at Dittberner, and the author of the just published report “.” Heath added that “

The report, IPTV Impact on Public Networks, appraises of the impact of offering IPTV service on the Access, Aggregation and Backbone networks.

The report concluded that the size of the Access Equipment Market is greatly affected by the number of popular TV channels that are multicasted to the DSLAM, while the backbone market will be greatly affected by the popularity of Video-on-demand. Interestingly, the size of the Aggregation equipment market will remain relatively unaffected by changes in either of these two factors. The speed at which HDTV is introduced will directly affect the size of all three market segments.

Although the subscription growth is expected to be slow, the incremental investment to offer IPTV is low, making it an attractive service offering for the traditional telephone companies. Dittberner believes that developing truly compelling service differentiation could speed up IPTV’s market penetration. The report lays out the case for IPTV as a compelling service offering that will ultimately have a major impact on the design of public networks and the way Service Providers do business.

In the newly released “IPTV Impact on Public Networks” report, Dittberner’s research examined worldwide deployments of IPTV and provides an outlook on where the segment is headed. Also provided are the country and regional forecasts for IPTV equipment and IPTV subscribers, IPTV business case and ROI analysis, and suppliers SWOT analyses. The research also includes profiles of key service and equipment vendors.

Companies

Operators

The largest operators in IPTV today are:

In 2004, SBC agreed to pay Microsoft $400 million dollars for software to be used to deliver IPTV services to up to 18 million customers. Alcatel will work with SBC to ensure the video systems integration. Since the SBC deal, Microsoft and Alcatel have subsequently announced a global collaboration agreement to develop an integrated IPTV delivery solution. In January 2005, US based Verizon signed an agreement to use Microsoft IPTV solution, as well. Neither AT&T nor Verizon have commercially launched true IPTV services yet though.

Previous to this, Swisscom/Bluewin has been running real live trials since November 2004 with over 600 customers. Besides this, Bell Canada, BellSouth, Reliance Infocomm (India) and Telecom Italia are testing this new technology.

Beyond simple press announcements (excepting Fastweb, Magnet Networks, Yahoo BB and Swisscom/Bluewin), Belgacom will offer a commercial IPTV service for 2005.

In the UK, BT expect a new service to be launched in late 2006.

Vendors

The term "IP/TV" is an active registered United States trademark owned first by Precept Software, Inc. and now by Cisco Systems, Inc. The IP/TV product is an audio/video system, including both servers and viewers, based on the RTP/RTCP and SDP protocols. It often uses IP multicast as well. IP/TV was introduced in 1995.

Digital broadcast equipment manufacturer Tandberg Television, Harmonic Inc and Optibase has a range of headend hardware and software catering to IPTV applications.

Tut Systems, Inc. produces IPTV encoding and processing equipment for digital headends and video transport applications.

Outsourced IPTV head-end service provider Broadstream Communications is the first legal transporter of IPTV content to small and medium sized markets that can not cost-justify an owned and operated IPTV head-end.


IPTV Quality monitoring, test and analysis equipment vendors

IPTV Emergency Alert Systems

IPTV set-top box manufacturers include:

IPTV DRM - content protection manufacturers include:

  • Verimatrix
  • Verimatrix VCAS Verimatrix Content Authority System

IPTV software vendors include:

IPTV end-to-end solutions:

See also

External links

  • informitv Informing Interactive Television - Latest interactive television news service and consultancy
  • IPTV 101
  • 2006 Dittberner Associates market research report: on IPTV
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