ASIA-PACIFIC BROADCASTING

By Millette Burgos — Will adding Internet elements to IPTV make this service more compelling to consumers?

APB recently put this question to David Wood, head of Emerging Media for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

“The technology that makes this hybrid offering possible is already here,” he said, adding that the possibility of this “new wave” of IPTV service was indeed one of the issues that cropped up during the first half of Realising IPTV, a day-long series of sessions chaired by him at the Broadcast-Asia2009 International Conference, held in Singapore last month.

Right now, according to Wood, what is coming to light is how IPTV can reinvent itself to become a more compelling proposition.

“IPTV is not a new idea,” he said, adding that the Realising IPTV session looked at not only some of the technical issues surrounding IPTV, but also the business opportunities such as how the platform can differentiate itself from other TV services, and how advertising or other revenues can be derived from operating an IPTV service.

“In general, the growth is less dramatic than what we thought would have been, perhaps five or 10 years earlier. But now, we are in a new situation and, to some extent, we’re looking for a kind of re-birth of IPTV.”

And one area is the possibility of combining IPTV with some of the Internet-compelling features. This was explored at the Broadcast-Asia conference.

The Internet offers a number of attractions to consumers, especially its social networking sites and other virtual sites, Wood said. What came out of the conference discussions, he added, was the new way of combining the video-on-demand (VoD) features of IPTV with the many exciting capabilities of the Internet.

However, the big question is whether it will really -succeed. Wood explained that delegates felt that, by itself, the Internet-based content -line-up often lacks the right business models — as premium content simply cannot be offered via the Internet at prices lower than that from pay-TV platforms such as walled-garden IPTV.

One point to bear in mind is that even though most content offerings from the Internet are free, they are usually the home-produced variety like those found in video-hosting sites such as YouTube; viewers seeking Hollywood-type of content usually prefer to view this in the full glory of professionally produced programmes — which means subscription and a bigger screen.

Thus, one possibility for Internet-based content to gain more revenue traction is to combine it with a VoD-type option like IPTV. But will this in turn serve to value-add to the existing IPTV platter?

While the idea was being discussed at the conference, Hong Kong-based telco PCCW has already launched its second-generation “eye service”, a Wi-Fi-enabled portable device developed by Thomson as its advanced multimedia over IP for the home.

PCCW, which has one of the most commercially successful IPTV services in Asia, is no stranger to new-media offerings. Said to be the first of its kind in the region, not to mention the world, its ‘eye 2’ service enables users to move seamlessly between high-quality IPTV -channels, -local and online music streaming, viewing of photo -albums, video telephony and accessing online information and other media services offered on PCCW’s walled garden.

All these can be accessed from a simple user inter-face, controlled either by the touch screen or from dynamically assigned controls on the surface of the device. The ‘eye 2’ device contains high-quality stereo speakers. It also has an integral stand allowing it to be placed on any surface. Or, it can be comfortably held in the hand while moving around the house.
“Our subscribers have rapidly accepted the huge advantages of a seamless multimedia service over IP,” said Tom Chan, managing director, Consumer Group, PCCW Hong Kong.

“We are so glad to launch the first and foremost
‘eye 2’ in Hong Kong. It embodies telephone, TV, multi-media player, [as well as] infotainment and interactive functionalities. Supported by PCCW’s quadruple-play platform, we put every part of the service and unique user experience into the hands of our subscribers.”

Thus, even as conference delegates are now mulling over the possibilities of combining IPTV with Internet-based offerings, eyeballs are already on PCCW’s hybrid choices.  

The race to turn IPTV into a hybrid offering with more compelling services is on ...

 

 

 

 

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