Authors include: - Connect-World

Triple play
"More and more,
consumers are
becoming used to
interacting with digital
entertainment."
eye.Theuserexperienceisextremely
important; IPTV services can add to
theuservaluebynotintrudingonthe
userexperience.
Multiplepicture-in-pictureservices
Forpicture-inpicture(PIP)functionality,
broadcast TV requires multiple
tunersinthereceivingdevice,onefor
eachimage.WithIPTV,tuningissoftware-based,
meaning no hardware
tuners are required and multiple
movingpicturescanbecost-effectively
shown on the screen at once. One
applicationofmultiplePIPisaricher
mosaic interactive programme guide
(IPG) with six to eight moving video
thumbnails per screen, contrasted
withthesimpletext-basedIPGspeoplearefamiliarwithtoday.
Piracyandillegalduplicationofcontent
are major issues for content
providers.Acontentprotectionmodel
thatsafeguardscontentownerswithoutsacrificingconsumerexperienceis
important. When safeguards are in
place,andhigh-qualitycontentcanbe
delivered, content owners will take
advantageofthenewpurchasemodelsthatIPTVenables.
Digital rights management (DRM)
systemsdefineandpreservethecontent
owners’ rights to managing the
distributionofcontentaswellasthe
rights of the end user to view it.
AdvancedDRMtechnologywillmake
available a variety of new content
optionsforIPTVandahomenetwork
might contain several IP-based
devicescapableofaccessing,storing,
sharingordisplayingDRM-protected
digitalTVcontentinasecureway.
To illustrate, think of a set-top box
thatreceivesaTVsignalandstoresit
on the set-top’s DVR. The set-top
could securely make that content
available to other televisions in the
homeortoaportablevideoplayer–
aslongastherighttodosohasbeen
acquired from the content provider.
ThebusinessrulesforDRMaredrivenbythecontentownersandservice
providers.
Soon, the hardware required to
decode and display IPTV services
will be embedded in single, lowcost
silicon chips. This will help
drivedownthetotalcostsofdeployingandmaintaininganIPTVsystem.
Withnewsiliconadvances,IPTVsettopboxescanbecomemorepowerful,
more economical and fuel greater
IPTVinnovation.
Businessmodel
Thisnewgenerationofchipswillalso
enableanewcategoryof‘IPTVready’
consumer devices. In some markets,
consumers will be able to choose
betweenanarrayofdevicesandmanufacturers
for a reasonably priced
IPTV receiver with the features and
functionality that best meets their
needs.
The business model might look very
similar to the mobile phone market
today, where operators subsidise
basic low-cost versions, but consumers
can buy more powerful, feature-richdevices.
Eventually, consumers will have yet
anotherchoice–whethertosubscribe
toanIPTVservicefromtheirtelecommunications
provider, their cable
providerorfromtheemerginggroup
ofwirelessbroadbandproviders.The
advantages of IP-based networks,
especially the bandwidth and economic
efficiencies gained by delivering
video, broadband and telephony
services over a single network, are
numerous.
Both cable and telco operators will
inevitably converge upon IP-based
networksforalltheircommunication
services.Thelinesbetweencableand
telco will blur even more than they
have today. Both are quickly becomingmulti-serviceprovidersofferinga
full range of communication and
entertainment services and compete
in terms of quality of service, the
value of their connected-entertainment
and connected-information
offerings, and how well they market
theirservicebundles.
While there are significant benefits
forserviceproviderswhoadoptIPTV,
consumerswillbetheultimatebeneficiaries
with more choices, better
prices,fasterinnovationand,overall,
amuchbetterTVexperience.
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