What's next for IPTV? You tell us
I've been manning the helm at FierceIPTV for almost a month now, and the vast majority of reports I've been seeing and discussions I've been party to have had to do with subscriber numbers. This especially has been this case in the last couple of weeks, as telcos from around the world have been reporting first quarter earnings. Because IPTV is still in its young, growth-spurt phase, telcos have been happy to share IPTV subscriber growth figures, and highlight these numbers in their quarterly reports. Certainly, we'll see more of the same when second quarter earnings reports are filed this summer.
But, while subscriber growth is exciting and likely will continue to fuel a good portion of our content, it is time to take a broader, deeper look at IPTV trends and technologies. Here's a few things I'm keeping my eye on right now:
- Back office and IMS integration of IPTV silos: As telcos have been focused on initial IPTV service launches and marketing campaigns, how well have the new services been integrated into existing OSS structures? If those same telcos are pursuing IP Multimedia Subsystem projects, have IPTV offering been considered as part of the IMS plan? I'm betting the answer is "no" in both cases.
- IPTV pricing: Prices for Verizon Communications' FiOS TV service increased during 2007. Cable TV prices continue to increase, so maybe IPTV players can just continue to roll along; but could price hikes hurt IPTV adoption going forward, especially if telcos also are looking to charge customers extra for things like HD DVR services?
- IPTV integration with online video: These two sectors still seem like strange bedfellows to me, but new companies like Sezmi are looking to help telcos make sense of the online video boom by integrating online video capabilities with their IPTV services.
What do you think about each of these areas and where they are headed? As we look to dig deeper into the IPTV sector, what are some trends and technologies you think we should be watching closely? Please post a comment and let us know.
- Dan
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Comments
By Mari | Posted 10:13pm | May 25, 2008
Telcos like AT&T and Verizon are not going to go with a solution like Sezmi. They've invested too much in their own control over the user experience. I don't think we're going to see anything but walled garden approaches to Internet content via a cable or telco TV provider for quite some time.
By Anonymous | Posted 1:59am | May 27, 2008
True multi-screen integration for video, including the ability to seamlessly shift between TV, PC and mobile devices where the network follows the user. The simplicity of play-pause-resume.
By Reed Majors | Posted 10:59am | June 3, 2008
It would be interesting to conduct surveys that can somehow measure user satisfaction with the their cable versus satellite vs IPTV experience to see how much better, or how much the same IPTV is against the other two. I have DISH at home, but would love to have a service like we at Minvera have enabled for more than 100 telcos in the US so I could compare in my own home, as oppossed to my demo room, which is just not the same (since the wife is not using it).
We ask our customers all the time, but it would be great to have a 3rd party like Fierce do something on a broader scale that might include FIOS, Uverse, and a couple Minerva customers.
The interesting thing to note, is that some Minerva middleware telocs have almost 30% penetration in their ILEC territory. Granted the total subscriber numbers are small, but these are perfect cross samples of the US, and would be great locations to conduct surveys.
Besides the customer satisfaction data, monitoring who will deliver the best reverse EPG first telco, cable, or satellite, and how they will do it from a legal and technology perspective would be interesting. Consumers need this so that nobody every has to think about what to record.