Broadband

Tiscali powers down IPTV service

Dan O'Shea — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 19:46:56 -0500

Italian service provider Tiscali was planning as of last week to shut down its IPTV service in its home country on Dec. 31. The company sent a letter to its roughly 50,000 subscribers in late December saying the service would shut down at the end of the month. Not much further detail was available. Tiscali, which also operates an IPTV service in the U.K., had signed an agreement with Cisco Systems less than three months ago to have the vendor supply it with additional video gear. However, Tiscali also reportedly had been trying to sell some assets, including its IPTV operations, during the course of 2008. Additionally, it was a later entrant in the Italian market after IPTV pioneer FastWeb and incumbent national telco Telecom Italia. Wind Telecommunications is yet another competitor in Italy.

The ending of the service certainly could be viewed only as a consequence of one company's numerous challenges. But, with Tiscali's move and the recent announcement by SES Americom that it is shutting down its IP-Prime wholesale service, the IPTV sector will be worth watching closely in the first half of 2009 to see if negative feelings about the market opportunity become a growing trend.

For more:
- roadbandTV News has this post

BT, Comtrend recharge IPTV contract

Dan O'Shea — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:22:27 -0400

U.K. telco giant BT will continue working with broadband-over-powerline technology supplier Comtrend, after renewing its existing contract with the vendor to support its BT Vision IPTV service. When deployed to a household, the service, according to IPTV News, uses two Comtrend Power Grid 902 adapters, pre-configured for plug-and-play home networking, that provide a local network bridge between the BT Home Hub router and the service's V-Box set-top appliance. One of the adapters plugs into the power outlet nearest the BT Home Hub, and the other goes into the power outlet nearest the set-top box. The solution supports maximum bandwidth of 200 Mbps.

For more:
- IPTV News has this post

Q3: So far, so good for telco TV

Dan O'Shea — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 09:36:20 -0400

So far, telco TV services are coming through one of their most critical quarters with flying colors. Verizon Communications and AT&T posted nearly identical net additions of TV subscribers during the third quarter, and together accounted for 465,000 customers signing on to telco TV offerings during the quarter. That's far more than the two largest telcos in the U.S. collected during the second quarter of 2008.

A number of smaller telco TV service providers and large cable TV companies are set to report their numbers in the days to come, so we will soon find out not only if telco TV is still succeeding across the board, but also how much of a bite the newer TV service providers are taking out of the cable TV companies.

Meanwhile, yesterday's announcement of rural telco CenturyTel's acquisition of Embarq could have some interesting TV-related implications. The buyer has been a believer in having its own TV service offering, while Embarq, like larger telco Qwest Communications, has shied away from investing in its own, branded TV service in favor of encouraging customers to use their broadband pipes for online video. Will CenturyTel change Embarq's TV strategy?

If it does, everything from service bundle competition to staightforward TV competition in Embarq's current markets will be affected. Also, the combined company could present TV technology and equipment vendors with with a larger sales opportunity, as well as the trade-off for that opportunity--a larger telco with much more purchasing power to leverage at a time when network operator across the board already may be tightening TV-related capex.

-Dan

Part 2: Video Transcoding companies to watch

Dan O'Shea — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:55:37 -0400

Inlet Technologies - The company's Armada transcoding process has helped it win deals such as this month's agreement with Broadway Video Digital Media to support TV shows for iTunes.

Motorola - Motorola made a string of acquisitions related to video technologies used in broadband and IPTV network environments, including Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Modulus, supplier of video encoding/transcoding technology.

RipCode - Ripcode makes a video transcoding appliance focused on video-on-demand applications, also with some emphasis on mobile-related activities.

Canby can add HD channels via IP-Prime

Dan O'Shea — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:19:56 -0400

Oregon-based independent teclo Canby Telcom has added more than two dozen high-definition channels to its IPTV line-up. Canby got help from the satellite-based IP-Prime transport solution offered by SES Americom, in tandem with the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC).

Canby's new MPEG-4 HD channels include Discovery, Disney, Showtime, Fox News, ESPN, A&E, the Food Network and a handful of local broadcast services, bringing the telco's total HD channel count to 36. The NRTC member was among the first small telcos in the U.S. to launch IPTV in 2005.

For more:
- see this post at IPTV News

The fourth screen era begins

Dan O'Shea — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 10:59:27 -0400

AT&T has announced HomeManager, a touch-screen broadband base station that, as the name suggests, manages and consolidates several communications functions. It leverages the U-Verse broadband connection and supports voice calling, e-mail and access to internet-based information services.

AT&T and other carriers have been talking for the last few years about three-screen strategies, and how to better integrate broadband communications functions via the TV, the mobile phone and the PC. HomeManager looks to be a step toward making that happen, though HomeManager itself also looks like a fourth screen being added to high-tech households. Will that be one screen too many?

At a cost of $299, 3Screens.net blogger Alan Weinkrantz wonders why AT&T doesn't offer a rebate, which is a good point. HomeManager requires customers to sign up for a two-year contract for AT&T High Speed Internet or sign up for AT&T U-verse TV, Internet and voice.

HomeManager doesn't have any further monthly service charge, and it looks like a pretty sleek and useful device. However, there are an awful lot of broadband appliances out there now vying to be positioned near consumers' TVs or other devices. Some of them provide online video, some of them provide converged wireline/wireless voice access, and others, like HomeManager and a similar offering Embarq announced earlier this year, look to bridge the gap between traditional landline voice and Internet-based communications and information services.

Will the fourth screen help consumers manage the first three screens, or is it destined to become another under-used resident in increasingly crowded household entertainment centers?

-Dan

For more:
- see this story at Telephony
- check out photos and AT&T's press release at Gizmodo
- read this blog post by Alan Weinkrantz

Hotwire to send IPTV over Motorola FTTH

Dan O'Shea — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:34:25 -0400

Hotwire Communications, a Wynnewood, Penn.-based service provider, is using Motorola's gigabit passive optical networking fiber to the home (FTTH) solution, MPEG-4 high-definition encoder and IP set-top box offerings to support IPTV and other services.

Hotwire, which focuses on delivering fiber-based broadband to multi-family communities and home developments, student dormitories and military housing, serves customers in parts of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.

For more:
- see this post at IPTV News

Broadband Forum/Point Topic: IPTV subs double again

Dan O'Shea — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:14:36 -0400

The Broadband World Forum Asia is going on in Hong Kong this week, and the Broadband Forum (formerly the DSL Forum) thought it was a good place and time to announce that global broadband subscribers now number 370 million, while global IPTV subscribers now amount to almost 15.5 million. The research was compiled for the Broadband Forum by Point Topic, and the results highlight a doubling of IPTV subscribers for the second straight year.

IPTV is seen as driving sign-up to fiber broadband networks worldwide, with more than 10 million people now connected to fiber networks. Fiber network subscriptions are up 33 percent since the beginning of 2007. However, it may come as a surprise to some that the leading technology delivering IPTV today is ADSL2plus, with 12.1 million subscribers, according to the Forum's press release on the numbers. About 8.4 million of all IPTV subscribers are in European countries. Here are more details from the Broadband Forum release on the Point Topic research:

Regional IPTV subscriber growth worldwide, first quarter 2007 and 2008

     Region                              Q1 2007             Q1 2008

    Europe                             3,875,266           8,425,370

    Asia-Pacific                       1,129,355           2,619,035

    North America                        850,601           2,258,601

    South and East Asia                1,353,000           2,086,000

    Latin America                          2,300              11,183

    Middle East and Africa                10,000              10,000

    TOTAL                              7,220,522          15,410,189

"IPTV operators around the world have shown that systems are scalable and can handle rapid growth in subscriber numbers," said Point Topic Senior Analyst John Bosnell in the release. 
"However, developing and agreeing standards will help these operators deliver IPTV more simply and effectively over a variety of access technologies and help to drive higher up take in other markets."

For more:
- See the MarketWatch story

Related articles:
Global IPTV to see 52% annual growth through 2012 IPTV growth report
U.S. IPTV market to grow to $14 billion by 2012 U.S. IPTV report

Vodafone reportedly set to bid for Tiscali

Dan O'Shea — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 08:34:17 -0400

Mobile carrier Vodafone is nearing a bid to acquire Italian broadband service provider Tiscali, according to several published reports out of the U.K. today. Tiscali has been trying to sell off some of its properties, including IPTV operations in Italy and in the U.K. market. Fellow Italian service provider FastWeb reportedly had been considered a candidate to acquire the assets in the U.K., but FastWeb owner Swisscom denied that interest. What Swisscom had not decided yet was whether or not it to make a bid for Tiscali's home market IPTV properties in Italy.

Is the Vodafone bid imminent? Will Swisscom and FastWeb still try to get into the mix to stop Vodafone from building a stronger base in Italy? We could presume that most of Vodafone's interest lies in Tiscali's U.K. group, but Vodafone also already owns Tele2 operations in Italy, and if it buys all of Tiscali, it could become a competitive wireline broadband powerhouse there.

For more:
- read this report from the U.K.'s The Press Association
- see this story at IPTV News

Related articles:
Tiscali losses shrink, so does list of bidders Tiscali report
Tiscali merged with U.K. HomeChoice almost two years ago Tiscali report

New 70-channel faith IPTV service

Tom Burton — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 06:59:10 -0500

Sky Angel has launched a 70-channel Internet service devoted to Christian and family TV and radio programming. The subscription service is being offered in three tiers:

a Faith Package for $14.99/mo.;
a Family package for $19.99/mo.;
and both packages offered as a Family Values package for $24.99/mo.

Faith channels include FamilyNet, Liberty Channel, God TV, JCTV, Gospel Music Channel, EWTN, CatholicTV and many others. Family channels are Discovery Channel, Fox Business Network, The Weather Channel, Discovery Kids, Hallmark Channel and the NFL Network.

Sky Angel is utilizing proprietary set-top box IPTV technology developed by NeuLion Inc. of Plainview, N.Y. The signal will be sent via an Ethernet cable or wireless router, depending on the location of the TV to the Internet modem. Sky Angel says it is the first provider to offer a vast selection of Christian and family-friendly programming nationwide over IPTV.

The Sky Angel IPTV service will offer twice as many channels as have been available through its satellite service and features a 48-hour playback option on the faith-based TV channels, as well as Video-On-Demand.

For more
- Sky Angel Release

Related articles:
Comcast's portable DVR Article
GodTube.com fast growing web site in U.S. Article