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Does IP-TV Have a Future

November 10, 2006 BY Mark Evans

I've always been puzzled by IP-TV. Despite all the talk – and Microsoft's huge investment to get into the market – the prospects for IP-TV seem, at best, modest. It's not like consumers are clamouring for another way to receive television programming. And it's like the cablecos and satellite-TV service providers are dropping the ball in terms of new services. According to a recent In-Stat report, the cable industry is enjoy strong growth around the world as consumers demand for TV programming, as well as voice and data services. In-Stat found that of the 1.2 billion TV households around the world, 355 million are cable customers. This includes 106 million in China and 69 million in the U.S. The question is how the carriers are going to establish a foothold with IP-TV other than using lower prices than cablecos. Maybe the triple or quadruple plays will help them build some market share but attacking the cableco franchise seems like a Don Quixote-like exercise. In Canada, it will be interesting to see how well Bell Canada and Telus do with their IP-TV offers. Bell is still in "testing" while Telus has launched an IP-TV service on a selective basis in Calgary and Edmonton. The challenge is differentiation so there's a compelling reason for consumers to go with IP-TV rather than cable. Other than price, it may come down to services such as programming-on-demand in which every television show is stored on a server and available if and when the consumer wants it on a pay-as-you-go or subscription basis.

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  • Anonymous

    When asking this question it might be worthwhile sitting back and thinking what you think TV will look like 10 years from now and what will be different. Once they figure it out, the flexibility offered by the IPTV model is phenomenal. Those who build expertise now could really clean up down the road. But they may loose their shirts in the process. As you have noted, no one is really clammering for another way to receive TV.
    I guess I am saying that someone will clean up on IPTV in the future, but it may be a distant future.

  • Anonymous

    Video over the net has sooo many permutations. The liklihood of “telco-ip-tv” being the only game in town is low. The telco 2.0 guys in Europe do a good job covering the issues of “telco-ip-tv”

  • Anonymous

    Hmmm interesting. I have left comments before on this issue – I think telco IPTV companies make the mistake of selling on the Hollywood film portfolio rather than on innovative services. if you look at the latter then what you're saying is why won't a PC enablged TV become popular with its own killer apps and a place as the new hearth.