Remember in the early to mid 90’s when anything that was branded as being ‘interactive’ or having ‘multimedia’ capabilities was seen as being the very acme of cutting edge and zeitgeist irrespective of whether it was actually either of those terms or indeed any cop at all?
Well it looks as though IPTV is set to become the ‘interactive multimedia’ of 2008 in terms of it being absolutely everywhere and probably misunderstood by quite a few people in the frantic scramble by all of the main players in the broadband league to make sure they’ve got the correct IPTV eggs in the right basket.
Regular readers will know that IPTV is, put simply, video content downloaded from the interweb and played on a compatible TV screen via a digital set-top box which connects with your router.
the BT Vision menu, in all it’s shiny purple glory
In this sense, BT are already paving the way, connecting just over 100,000 of their 4 million customers to the BT Vision platform. BT are thought to be rolling out their Home Hub - required for BT Vision to work - to PlusNet customers in the new year. Tiscali have also been busy acquiring rights to desirable content including the ‘missing’ Sky channels (Sky One, Sky Sports News etc) and on-demand movies. Orange have made noises and indeed have carried out trials of a similar service, but have put off a launch until the time is, ahem, ripe.
O2 are also set to launch an on-demand IPTV service in 2008 to compete directly alongside fellow mobile network/ISP Orange. O2 have launched an IPTV platform in the Czech Republic and already have deals with content providers Warner Bros, HBO and Paramount in place, and France Telecom, who own Orange, run a successful service in France.
With regard to IPTV if current trends continue, then it looks as though IPTV will become the must-have of next year as everyone struggles to offer what the competition already does – Sky and Virgin Media notwithstanding for obvious reasons. Ultimately, all this seems to point to is an extra level of strain on the already strained and long obsolete copper infrastructure as everyone struggles to play catch-up.
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