What?

IPTV is a piece of the 'triple play' puzzle; voice, video and data by one provider over one infrastructure. The Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) has become a common denominator for systems where television and/or video signals are distributed to subscribers or viewers using a broadband connection over Internet Protocol. IPTV is not a protocol itself. It is a collection of hardware (head-end systems, video servers, IP set-top boxes), software (middleware software, and security software for digital-rights management and conditional access), protocol (IP) and infrastructure (broadband). IPTV is a crucial piece of the regional telecom multi-billion-dollar plan to use fiber-optic cable in order to deliver a "triple- play" bundle of television, phone and high-speed Internet services to consumers.

Why?

So why migrate from traditional TV distribution technologies such as terrestrial, satellite and CATV to IPTV? After all, cable can be upgraded to two-way capability and can thus also carry IPTV. 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 just like web. While traditional cable systems devote a slice of bandwidth for each channel and then multiplex them all out at once, IPTV uses a "switched video" architecture in which only the channel being watched at that moment is sent over the network, freeing up capacity for other features and more interactivity.

IPTV will offer more than Picture in Picture (PiP) or TV closed captions (hidden in the television video signal, invisible without a special decoder). Basic features include customizable channel lineups, video-on-demand, digital video recording, interactive program guides, event notifications and content protection features. IPTV enables advanced features such as multiple pictures-in-picture, remote programming of digital video recorders, and access to caller ID, digital photos or personalized stock, weather and sports information right on the TV screen. From Instant feedback on commercials, TV shows and actors; one-click shopping; taking remote control user surveys; voting on local referendums; up to ordering Chinese food from the local joint, all can be done with IPTV. IP technology also can allow various devices in the home to work together more seamlessly.

Who?

Telcos are not just beefing up and upgrading their network infrastructure (SBC has committed to a $6.2 billion FTTN rollout over the next five years) to carry the video traffic but are also working on what can be termed "advanced triple-play" capabilities such as controlling a video recorder from a cell phone. So, they will not only be offering a service but a complete solution. To support switched video offering, telcos will deploy a series of headends where video content will be digitized, and which will house servers where video content will be stored. The plan calls for two super headends that will feed regional hub offices which in turn will feed local video serving offices. The more popular the video program, the closer to end users it will be stored. A mixture of standard and high-definition (HDTV) channels can be offered. Although standard channels consume only about 1.5 Mbps, HDTV channels consume in the range of 6-10 Mbps, which means it will be a challenge for the Telcos to offer more than 2 HDTV channel for starters. As HDTV encoding technology advances, one can expect its bandwidth requirements to decrease but still it will not be easy, since this bandwidth is being shared with a high speed internet access. Video on demand (VOD) is one area where the telcos have an advantage over their cable competitors, as traditional cable infrastructure, which uses a broadcast architecture, doesn't support true video on demand. When a broadcast architecture is used, traditional cable programming and a limited selection of pay-per-view content is sent on separate channels over a coaxial connection that passes every customer. The customers control which programs they see by making selections with their remote control. Unlike with switched architecture, the number of programs available in a conventional cable network is limited by the amount of bandwidth the coaxial access infrastructure can support. With improvements in technologies like video compression and increase in bandwidths, the IPTV experience will be better than the current 'streaming video' over the web, which has failed to deliver.

Is IPTV just a fad? The numbers are contrary to this theory. IPTV is expected to grow at a fast pace in the coming few 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 for their markets. Giants like Microsoft, Alcatel and Verizon have joined forces to offer their IPTV solutions. Telcos are shifting money that they previously spent on DSL and spending even less on voice; this goes to show that the old saying 'talk is cheap' and 'there is no business like show business' are still holding true. Just like the cellular revolution, EU and Japan are on the fore front. The difference is that unlike in the past cellular race, USA also looks serious about IPTV. 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. Separately, SBC is investing over 4 billion USD in its network infrastructure to prepare for the rollout, the largest part with Alcatel ($1.7 billion) including access and fiber technologies, IP routing, Ethernet switching solutions, and network systems integration services. Microsoft has stuck IPTV deals with carriers around the world, including Bell Canada, British Telecom, Reliance Infocomm, Swisscom, Telecom Italia, Deutsche Telecom's T-Online France, as well as SBC, BellSouth and Verizon in the United States. (It's providing a customized version of its Microsoft TV platform with both digital-cable and IPTV features for Verizon.) Fastweb in Italy, Imagenio, in Spain, Yahoo BB / Softbank in Japan, NOW Broadband TV in Hong Kong, Media on Demand (MOD) in the Republic of China, and Homechoice in the United Kingdom, Bell Canada in Canada, BellSouth in USA, and Reliance Infocomm in India are involved in IPTV. Pakistan does not lag behind in the global IPTV race as NayaTel (a subsidiary of Micronet, Pakistan) is expected to launch 'Triple Play' through its 'fiber to home' project in February this year. This will make Pakistan one of the few countries with such a service.

When?

When will IPTV be main stream and what is taking it so long to make it to the consumer? Two reasons can be identified, one technical and the other non-technical. Technical reason has been the slow growth and in some cases, total absence of Broadband and political reason has been (and is still) the red tape surrounding its implementation. IP has been established as the protocol of choice (no more PAL, SECAM and NTSC incompatibilities), and Broadband (VDSL2, FTTH etc) has proved to be a transparent medium of transportation of zeros and ones. The real battle is being fought on the political front. As this article is being written, Cable companies in Texas are fighting the telcos in the courts of law. SBC and Verizon are at the forefront. Verizon plans to adopt a hybrid model combining traditional cable and IPTV technologies while SBC and BellSouth want to launch full-fledged IPTV networks. It seems like the telcos will win; after all they have the infrastructure in place and already carry voice and data. This is not a first attempt, as telcos have tried before to offer video. Last but not least, with revenues for fixed-line phone services threatened by mobile operators on the one hand and the prospect of free or low-cost calls over the internet (VoIP) on the other, traditional telephone companies need to sustain their diminishing call revenues with new services. One of their main objectives is a 'triple-play' of voice, video and data services on a single bill. As cable operators increasingly target their data and voice customers, the telephone companies are making a come back taking advantage of network convergence, broadband technology and IP infrastructure. The challenge cable TV industry has is that they have this huge investment in other technologies (cable operators have spent roughly $100 billion since the mid-'90s upgrading their networks). The telcos are starting with a clean slate. It seems like the only survival for these cable giants is to go IP themselves.

The writer is a BSc. (EE)& MBA from USA. Some of his certifications include MCSE, CCNA, NGDLC, ATM and NGN among others. He has worked in Telecommunications, and taught in various universities. Currently he is working as an Telecom/IT Consultant in UAE and running an online newsletter. He can be reached at info@farooq.com.pk