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| IPTV's News Challenge: Maximizing IP's True Potential |
Jeffrey Soong, CEO, BNS Ltd
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2005 appears to be the year that finally catapulted IPTC from relative obscurity to star attraction. However, looking at the IPTV series launched so far one can't help but think that they don't make full use of the superior technology at hand. IP has significant advantages compared to traditional cable and satellite delivery platforms, which not only differentiates IPTV from traditional pay TV, but has the potential to truly transform how people consume and interact with digital content.
Think about efficient backroom management of service provisioning, pricing and bundling. Currently, IPTV operators utilize only a fraction of the service flexibilities to streamline backroom service management, a vital tool that enables the offering of micro packaging and diverse price segmentation. This is one key area where IP technology can show its true strength and superiority compared to other technologies. BNS, with our partners, will showcase an MPEG4 based middleware solution at the IPTV Asia Forum which gives operators finally the right tools and technology to optimize their bundling options.
Another area where IP's potential has so far largely been neglected is content. While content has been universally accepted as the most important factor for IPTV success, most IPTV services still operate a traditional multicast model which doesn't really differentiate their services from any other pay TV service. Of course, services like VOD, interactive gaming and Pod casting require a fundamental shift in customer viewing habits which may take some time to achieve. However, offering interactive services that are well tailored to specific markets may well be the key success factor for IPTV operators going forward.
Which makes recent developments in the content arena all the more important for all players in the IPTV space. Think about the gradually shrinking gap between movie release windows for box office and VOD. This is starting to cause major tremors amongst traditional content proprietors. While the long term effects of breaking up the age old rules of how content is distributed is only stating to sink in, it is already clear that this is only the tip of the iceberg. And IPTV is set to benefit tremendously from these developments.
While it may be clear that IPTV is a service to be reckoned with, offering merely multichannel TV may not be viable in the long run. Operators should look very closely at how they can leverage the advantages of IP technology for their service offering to ensure long terms success.
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For more information, check the event website at www.iptv-asia.net
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