Continuing on the same theme of my previous post, of internet merging with television, all the new products and services are emerging along two major trends. One is of Internet protocol television (IPTV) and the other of internet television. Similar names but which currently have very different implications.
A very succinct definition of Internet Protocol Television is that it is a profile of closed, proprietary TV systems such as those present today on cable services but delivered via IP-based secure channels representing a sharp increase in control of content distribution. It allows a cable provider or telco to offer more services over the same infrastructure. ‘The IP refers to a method of sending information over a secure, tightly managed network that results in a superior entertainment experience.”
Since it is a secure network and is not open to the Internet as a whole, it enables more control over the content. Firstly it is safer for established content producers such as film studios and other media houses as it protects them from piracy. Secondly it allows the monitoring and recording of user choices and selection behavior.
Internet television is a much more open model for content creation, distribution and consumption. Internet Television is open to any rights holder no matter whether this is an individual creating a video for a very small audience or a traditional publisher that offers linear cable channels. The creator is able to directly reach the end consumer and on any device. Therefore internet television is independent of devices just as internet itself is. Internet television can grow on the existing infrastructure and can easily be adapted by all the internet users as its operating mechanism is the similar to web browsing.
There are many critics and supporters of both technologies. “We think IPTV is the platform for all future media distribution, whether it’s cable, telco, or a future wireless broadband network,” says Ed Graczyk, director of marketing and communications for Microsoft’s TV division. For telcos in particular, IPTV presents a ripe opportunity to establish a foothold in the nascent online video distribution market.
“Ultimately Internet Protocol television can be more open. Surfing the Internet on the TV in my limited experience is kind of a novelty that wears off after a while. But if there’s a way for the [IPTV providers] to create a ‘channelized’ experience out of that Web surfing so that it becomes more like TV, you could add some value to services that might be streaming from all around the Internet”, says says Ken Pyle, cofounder of Viodi.com.
What does the scenario look like in the Indian market given the infrastructural limitations we have? “Video is driving the bandwidth consumption across the world. In the present market, even with the constraints on bandwidth availability on mobile devices, there is a healthy consumption and huge potential. We are on the threshold of 3G and can expect the Indian market to explode in unimaginable ways. The ability to monetize and the general assumption that monetization would happen overnight is a major roadblock on getting content made available to consumers”, says Sunil Nair, the founder of videScreen, an an end to end solution provider for on-demand video content to the web or any web-enabled device, mobile device, and DTH screens.
So what can we envisage for the future? “TV didn’t kill the movie theater business, and VHS didn’t kill TV. Very rarely does a technology completely obviate another, and you’re not going to see that happen here because the phone company’s going to have their transport mechanism, cable will have theirs, and so on. Everybody’s going to have a way to get something onto your personal device”, conjectures Shelly Palmer, chair of the Emmy Awards Advanced Media Committee.
The Leap of Internet into Television & vice versa- Part 2
Continuing on the same theme of my previous post , of internet merging with television, all the new products and services are emerging along two major trends. One is of Internet protocol television(IPTV) and the other of internet television. Similar names but which currently have very different implications.
A very succinct definition of Internet Protocol Television is that it is a profile of closed, proprietary TV systems such as those present today on cable services but delivered via IP-based secure channels representing a sharp increase in control of content distribution. Master New Media It allows a cable provider or telco to offer more services over the same infrastructure. ‘The IP refers to a method of sending information over a secure, tightly managed network that results in a superior entertainment experience.“(Business Week)
Since it is a secure network and is not open to the Internet as a whole, it enables more control over the content. Firstly it is safer for established content producers such as film studios and other media houses as it protects them from piracy. Secondly it allows the monitoring and recording of user choices and selection behavior.
Internet television is a much more open model for content creation, distribution and consumption. Internet Television is open to any rights holder no matter whether this is an individual creating a video for a very small audience or a traditional publisher that offers linear cable channels. The creator is able to directly reach the end consumer and on any device. Therefore internet television is independent of devices just as internet itself is. Internet television can grow on the existing infrastructure and can easily be adapted by all the internet users as its operating mechanism is the similar to web browsing.
There are many critics and supporters of both technologies. “We think IPTV is the platform for all future media distribution, whether it’s cable, telco, or a future wireless broadband network,” says Ed Graczyk, director of marketing and communications for Microsoft’s TV division. For telcos in particular, IPTV presents a ripe opportunity to establish a foothold in the nascent online video distribution market. Streaming Media
“Ultimately Internet Protocol television can be more open. Surfing the Internet on the TV in my limited experience is kind of a novelty that wears off after a while. But if there’s a way for the [IPTV providers] to create a ‘channelized’ experience out of that Web surfing so that it becomes more like TV, you could add some value to services that might be streaming from all around the Internet”, says says Ken Pyle, cofounder of Viodi.com. Streaming Media
What does the scenario look like in the Indian market given the infrastructural limitations we have? “Video is driving the bandwidth consumption across the world. In the present market, even with the constraints on bandwidth availability on mobile devices, there is a healthy consumption and huge potential. We are on the threshold of 3G and can expect the Indian market to explode in unimaginable ways. The ability to monetize and the general assumption that monetization would happen overnight is a major roadblock on getting content made available to consumers”, says Sunil Nair, the founder of videScreen, an an end to end solution provider for on-demand video content to the web or any web-enabled device, mobile device, and DTH screens.
So what can we envisage for the future? “TV didn’t kill the movie theater business, and VHS didn’t kill TV. Very rarely does a technology completely obviate another, and you’re not going to see that happen here because the phone company’s going to have their transport mechanism, cable will have theirs, and so on. Everybody’s going to have a way to get something onto your personal device”, conjectures Shelly Palmer, chair of the Emmy Awards Advanced Media Committee. Streaming Media
