Telcos Enter The Video Village

Sean Buckley (5. 29. 07)
http://www.telecommagazine.com/newsglobe/article.asp?HH_ID=AR_3210

Success Is Predicated On Consistent User Experience

While IPTV is certainly a compelling method to deliver a full set of interactive content services to end users, the market is still relatively nascent. According to Infonetics Research, there were only 7 million IPTV subscribers worldwide in 2006, but that number is growing quickly and will jump to nearly 48 million by 2010, says the analyst firm.

Whether the video signal comes into the home over fiber, DSL, or hybrid coax/fiber, video delivery poses a number of technical and business challenges for telcos entering the video village.

One independent service provider perhaps summed up the challenge of delivering IPTV the best during last year’s TelcoTV conference: “Video is hard; it’s very hard and the first six months are terrible,” said Mike Knoll, CTO for Greenfield, Ind-based Hancock Telephone (see Hancock Telephone Takes on Video).

Hancock Telephone’s experience is far unusual. For one, the telco not only faces the challenge of delivering a better service than cable, but they also have to deal with acquiring content and building a profitable video service. On the technical side, the challenges are just as fierce. Telcos are faced with a dizzying array of network technologies to integrate, in addition to a diversity of home wiring environments to deliver video in a home and ensuring proper quality of experience (QoE).

Still, with cable operators eating away at the service providers’ cash cow voice service revenues, telcos are moving fast on the IPTV challenge.

In the U.S., all eyes are upon the two largest carriers’ IPTV efforts: AT&T and Verizon. Taking a walk before they run approach to IPTV, Verizon—clearly one of the most aggressive FTTP (fiber to the premise) advocates—is using an RF overlay architecture for its FiOS TV service, while putting in place the hooks to get to IPTV when ready.

Thus far, Verizon’s bet is paying off. In Q1 07, Verizon added 141,000 new FiOS customers. Ok, so an RF overlay might not be as exciting as IPTV, it does give Verizon a running start.

While AT&T has taken on more of a conservative approach to its access network choice--using FTTC/FTTN with VDSL2 bonding in existing markets and FTTP in Greenfield builds--Ma Bell plans to have the service available in 30 additional markets by the end of this year.

IPTV is not just for the big boys, though. Along with Hancock Telephone, VA-based NTELOS, an integrated ICP that’s using GPON-based FTTP, will launch its IPTV service later this year. While NTELOS might not be the size of an AT&T, the threat of Comcast coming into their RLEC territories drove it to move to launch new services such as IPTV and SIP-based voice services (see NTELOS’ Common Service Platform). If one thing’s for sure, the consumer appetite for TV is insatiable and users won’t tolerate any service degradation. At a time when the cable operators are set on delivering a quad play service package, not to mention IP-based video, a new telco video customer could become a former customer if they can’t deliver a consistent user experience.

FCC Asked To Keep Hands Off IP Video

John Eggerton (3.20.07)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6426258.html?display=Breaking+News

Network 2 has petitioned the FCC to stand down on IP Video regulation.

Whether or not IPTV is left unregulated will effect the direction of television broadcasts in the future.

Internet TV company Network2 has asked the FCC to declare the commission has no authority to regulate video over the Internet.

The company has asked for an FCC ruling that its IP Video service is free of Title III regulations--broadcast regulations rooted in the scarcity argument--and Title VI regulations--multichannel video regulations rooted in the "gatekeeper" argument. Neither apply to Internet video, the company argues.

Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, says such a ruling would be premature. "Multiplaform access rules will be needed for political speech on mobile and IPTV platforms," he says. "Rules protecting news and public affairs and advertising safeguards will be needed, including protecting children," he said.

Ericsson: Tandberg Is Key to IPTV

Ray Le Maistre (3.9.07)
http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=119124&site=cdn


Ericsson is looking to purchase Tandberg Television and secure a hold in the IPTV market.

The successful acquisition of Tandberg Television would help Ericsson play catchup with some of its main telco TV rivals in terms of technology, customers, and deployment experience, says one of the executives behind the bid for the encoding systems specialist.

In addition to the high-capacity video encoding and compression systems for which it is best known, Tandberg TV also has important applications-focused technology, such as headend-based advert insertion capabilities.

Those capabilities would significantly bump up Ericsson's portfolio in terms of video-specific technology, integration experience, and reference customers, areas where Ericsson has some catching up to do.

Ericsson has also been working with its mobile handset partner, Sony Corp. , to develop IPTV user interfaces that "have the same look and feel as the Sony Playstation in terms of the look and feel for navigation. We're going to do a lot of customer research to find out exactly what consumers want."

IPTV Market to Surge in Coming Years

Telecommunications Industry News (2.18.07)
http://www.teleclick.ca/2007/02/iptv-market-to-surge-in-coming-years/

Interesting facts on the predicted use and distribution of IPTV, and further shows the impending bandwith crunch.

The number of households using IPTV worldwide will grow to more than 80 million in 2011, from just 6 million at the end of 2006, according to a Strategy Analytics report, entitled “Global IPTV Forecast: Homes Users, and Subscribers.”

IPTV revenue, however, will see considerably less growth over the same five year period, as many customers are given the service as a free perk with their broadband internet access. The number of paying IPTV customers in 2011 will only be around 40.9 million, the research firm predicts.

“The jury is still out on how much consumers are willing to pay telcos for IPTV,” commented Strategy Analytics vice president and principal analyst, David Mercer. “Most telcos will likely offer customers a mix of free, subscription and pay-as-you-go programming models.”

Cisco inks key rural IPTV deal

Ed Gubbins (2.5.07)

http://telephonyonline.com/independent/news/telecom_cisco_inks_key/

Cisco Systems is vying to become a one-stop shop for rural telcos planning to offer IPTV.

The vendor announced a partnership this week with SES Americom, the satellite video provider that will supply rural telcos with prepackaged video content through a unique deal with the National Rural Telephone Cooperative. Cisco will act as a chief infrastructure supplier and integrator for customers of that offering.

In recent months, Cisco has also voiced an interest in becoming a more intimate strategic partner to carriers, convincing them to standardize their networks on Cisco architecture.

Cisco says it's willing to use other vendors' gear in some cases if individual customers want it. And it will offer two choices of middleware providers: NDS and Siemens. Although VOD is not yet a part of the IP-Prime offering, Cisco expressed an interest in adding its own VOD offerings to the mix in time.

Lightspeed's Slow Start

Business Week Online

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_07/b4021067.htm?chan=technology_
technology+index+page_more+of+today%27s+top+stories

Despite AT&T proclaiming that it will pump $4.6 billion into building enough fiber-optic cable and supporting technology to reach 19 million homes by the end of 2008, many to believe that AT&T will have a hard time cornering the internet/TV market as soon as they claim.


Technology glitches hobbled the rollout of Lightspeed last year. And though the TV service is up and running in fewer than a dozen markets with prices that undercut cable bills, a growing chorus of rivals, analysts, and engineers are skeptical that the network will offer enough bandwidth a few years from now to handle phone service, high-speed Internet, and multiple streams of high-definition TV.

Other operators have taken advantage of this slow start. Verizon is placing the most ambitious and risky bet. It plans to spend $18 billion—three times as much as AT&T—to lay fiber to every one of the 18 million homes it hopes to cover by 2010. AT&T is laying fiber into neighborhoods but is using existing copper phone lines to carry video the last few thousand feet. As a result, it will cost Verizon $1,750 to connect each home, vs. $450 for AT&T. Despite the higher price tag, ubs Investment Research expects Verizon to produce a return on its investment by 2011. The reason? It believes the Verizon network's higher bandwidth will lure more phone, Internet, and video customers—at higher prices—and thus generate about four times as much revenue as Lightspeed. On Jan. 29, Verizon backed up the theory when it announced that it ended its first full year of operations with 207,000 TV customers, representing 9% of the 2.4 million homes capable of receiving its video service in 2006. Just a few months ago, the company was hoping to finish 2006 with 175,000 video customers.

Doubts about AT&T's video project are fueling speculation it will have to buy one of the two U.S. satellite operators, DirecTV Group Inc. (DTV ) or EchoStar Communications Corp.(DISH ), to accelerate delivery of TV service.

AT&T remain confident in their decision to bet on a system that's more technically complex than Verizon's, arguing it will result in a TV service superior to anything else on the market.

Qwest to view video options

By Andy Vuong (1.7.07)
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_4968128

Qwest is looking into upgrading copper lines to fiber to be able to provide its own IPTV service.

Qwest is quietly taking steps toward a major upgrade of its network that would ultimately allow the company to offer its own video service on a broader scale.

Kermit Ross said the deadline for responding to Qwest's RFP was late last month. He said Qwest will probably spend two to three months reviewing proposals before selecting a vendor.

Qwest's capital expenditures have hovered around $1.6 billion annually in recent years and are expected to remain at that level for the foreseeable future, Jon Lentz said. Much of the company's spending has gone toward improving the reach and speed of its high-speed Internet Digital Subscriber Line offering.

IPTV vs. Internet TV: How they Stack Up

David Cotriss (12-18-06)
http://www.dailyiptv.com/news/iptv-vs-internet-tv-121506/

What is the best way to deliver TV services? The pros and cons of Internet TV vs. IPTV


IPTV is a way of bringing in the stability of a network with the internet's endless content capabilities.

Given the much larger amount of content available online cable and telecom providers will likely embrace Internet video as a complement to their own IPTV offerings rather than position themselves as direct competitors. Best-effort Internet video can be subject to delays due to lower bandwidth, high traffic or poor connection quality,” he said. The end result of IPTV delivery is a higher quality, more reliable, and more consistent viewing experience, he added.

Both Internet TV and IPTV have positions in the marketplace, but IPTV meets the demands of high-quality video content delivered to consumers’ television screens, and the service will continue to improve as companies find innovative ways to take advantage of the opportunities an all-IP platform provides for integration across services and platforms.