I have been giving additional thought to IPTV lately – looking at the technology in a broader sense than simply a telco solution for broadcast over twisted pair. IPTV is more than the way the phone companies provide TV using specialized set top boxes; it can also refer to programming delivered through a soft-client solution to a PC and technology to power video-on-demand among other incarnations.
As I have written before, telcos that are trying to simply replicate the analog cable experience over twisted-pair telephone wiring are likely heading toward toward failure.
So where does IPTV work best? How can telcos compete against cable?
Broadcast into typical North American multiple-TV set homes is well suited to cable with its coaxial broadband pipe. On the other hand, a dedicated point-to-point architecture may be better for on-demand business models despite being bandwidth limited.
Will IPTV be the right solution for business communications? On demand programming? Podcasts or delivery of campus course-ware? How do intelligent cross-device services (including mobile TV, high speed internet, large screen, etc.) get seamlessly delivered?
We’re working on sessions for The 2008 Canadian Telecom Summit. What would you like to see?
Update [October 29, 8:20 am]
Brian Gordon pointed me to a relevant story in Light Reading entitled Telcos: IPTV needs FTTH. The story comes out of last week’s Telco TV 2007 conference in Atlanta.
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