2006-2007 promises broad IPTV deployment
May 24, 2006 8:00 AM
Phil Corman, director of worldwide partner development for the Microsoft TV Division, went to NAB2006 with a simple message: now is the time for IPTV.
IPTV deployment will happen on a broad scale over the next nine to 12 months with Microsoft taking a leadership role as it organizes and leads an “eco-system” that will provide the critical components for telecommunications giants like AT&T, British Telecom and Deutsche Telekom to roll out IPTV services.
IPTV Update caught up with Corman a few weeks after NAB2006 to learn more about his view of where IPTV is and where it’s headed.
IPTV Update: Please address the opportunities and impediments Microsoft has identified in the deployment of IPTV – particularly in the United States.
Phil Corman: 2006 is the year IPTV becomes a reality. Three of the top telcos in the world will be deploying the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition platform in the next nine to 12 months. AT&T will be one of them. So the real opportunity for Microsoft and the industry, as well as the IPTV ecosystem, is really quite simple – make IPTV a success.
Now that the technology is ready to deploy, the real question is how it gets marketed, and what the enticing factors are for subscribers to want to shift. So marketing is a huge opportunity.
Microsoft TV IPTV Edition will provide better quality television, and subscribers will notice that both standard definition and high definition quality will be better than cable and satellite. We are working with the leading encoding providers, such as Harmonic, TANGBERG and Scientific-Atlanta, to make that happen.
If we do side-by-side comparisons between current MPEG-2 compression and the new open standard H.264, the difference is huge. Our partners showed the quality of H.264 compressed content at NAB and demonstrated that the difference is not subjective anymore.
Once the consumers begin to subscribe to IPTV, the real opportunity for both service providers and Microsoft is to start to leverage the new kinds of television models that you can deploy. For instance, we have instant channel changing, which is a huge improvement over what satellite and digital cable can do today.
Another important feature is what we call multi view, or the ability to show multiple pictures within one TV screen. Right now this functionality is an attribute of the hardware. Today, you can get this only if you buy a high end $3000 plasma set. With IPTV, it is part of the service, so every TV from a $3000 plasma to a $300 standard TV has multiple picture in picture.
This means that the leading content providers – the broadcasters and the studios – can create new kinds of programming because every single TV will have that capability. Take the Olympics for instance. I want to watch only parts of it and only parts of it live. This multiview capability enables all of the TVs to have a mosaic of six recorded Olympics events, while at the same time, you do not miss the competition that is going on live. So it’s kind of the concept of networked PVRs, if you will. Clearly, IPTV will redefine television.
Another example of how compelling IPTV is, is news. As you know people will glue themselves to the TV for late breaking news. With an IPTV multiview you can have three or four of the news channels you trust, and when you finally see something that is relevant to you, you click on the remote and you’re getting it right now.
Let’s take a look at another example. “Lost” is a unique show, and is the No. 1 downloaded show because the plot is a puzzle that makes you watch the show on multiple levels.
You can watch “Lost” and just sit back and be entertained by the storyline, or you can freeze frames and look at the name of the book on the top of the piano, because the name of the book is going to give you another clue. If you didn’t have a PVR and didn’t have the ability to freeze a frame, you would not get that clue. With IPTV, you create an environment where you not only watch “Lost,” but you can also have your own community. You and your buddies can freeze it and say, “What do you think is happening right now?” We’re talking to each other in the same way that you do with X-box Live today. The content provider now has the ability to build buzz and generate more viral marketing.
As far as impediments are concerned, we are technically ready to roll with AT&T, British Telecom and Deutsche Telekom. We have solved the technical hurdles that every new technology and market must overcome. The really hard part is behind us.
Once the AT&Ts and British Telecoms and Deutsche Telekoms get to 3 million subscribers, we need to be ready to reach the next level of scalability. To that end, we have expanded our ecosystem. We are working with leading server providers like HP and IBM, who are working with us to drive the performance and configuration for carrier-grade servers, for instance. Once we deploy here in the next short period of time, our focus will be on making sure we’re ahead of the scalability requirements.
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