Future Directions for IPTV

Leuven.
The morning keynote on this second and last day of EuroITV 2009 is by Jan van Bogaert from Alcatel-Lucent. He notes the gradual shift from a triple-play model for connecting households using broadband (comprising of IPTV, voice, and Internet communication) towards a more converged model which he calls application-enabled broadband.

The older model still involves a walled garden approach, too,where IPTV, for example, is streamed into the home using the broadband network, but delivered only to the TV, not to the PC. A different model is to stream content 'over the top' on the Net, allowing access via broadbandp-connected TVs. This has also led to IPTV providers thinking about expanding their market by offering their TV channels not only as IPTV to their own subscribers, but also streamed over the top to users subscribed with their competitors.

Much of this is further complicated by a proliferation of delivery standards, leading to the presence of many streaming and IPTV solutions which no longer have clear boundaries from one another. Multi-format applications, devices, and services further blur those boundaries - not least also creating a good deal of uncertainty for users, especially when they run into trouble and have to seek help.

Net and Web access is also being embedded into an increasingly broad array of devices, from games consoles to Blu-Ray players and digital TVs, as well as into mobile devices, of course. But connection in the home is not sufficient: the question of what online content providers and online stores provide content for what devices in the home is also important. There is now a new industry alliance, the 'Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem' (DECE), aiming to implement a globally applicable digital rights management (DRM) scheme to support and control this transmission of content - good luck with that...

In this context, then, there is a space for new service providers offering support and advice in this multi-provider, multi-channel, multi-device environment. This could be independent of devices, connection providers, and content providers; this new form of service provider would deal with users' problems regardless of what hardware, providers, or content they work with. Such a provider may need to have direct remote management access into the user's home, Jan suggests - raising huge privacy issues in the process, of course...

So, the future application-enabled broadband would require a high-leverage network, with low cost, high performance, and connection to every screen in customers' houses, and that this is offering a selection of capabilities (from billing to content), which can be exposed to selected trusted applications that in turn may also provide access to the wider Web. This could also provide a basis for what Jan calls a 'managed digital life' (remote controlling house lights and air conditioning, etc.).

This network would cover both the 3m experience of the television, the 30cm experience of the computer screen, and the 3cm experience of mobile devices, and now also the additional experience of having digital controllers for many other home functions. And any of these screens could in the future be used for any of these functions (though with specific preferences), and would be connected to the wider network through a home service gateway. The available devices, services, quality of experience, applications, and content will each have a role in determining the success of this model.

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