IPTV - Internet Protocol TV

Last generation was very much familiar with satellite televisions, Conditional access , dish TV or TATA sky, next is IPTV.

IPTV is Internet protocol television. This is digital television through broad band as it is connected with the broad band the facilities like video on demand, games, interactive services & personalized are made available.

The IPTV combines 3 features voice over IP, excessing the web & on demand contents for TV, audio & games.This concept was first introduced in 1995 by Judith Estren & Bill Carrico. They introduced the service with both Windows & Unix. The videos are stored in compressed form. They are sent in MPEC transport stream and delivered via multi cast in case of live television & video on demand.

Following figure shows the working of IPTV.

The SETUP BOX convert I.P signals back to TV Signals and vice versa. IPTV uses the ordinary telephone line or broad band network for content delivery.

In India the services provided by IOL broad band with the help of MTNL and BSNL currently the service is available in 5 cities which was started in October 2006. Airtel has introduce this service in December 07 in Delhi. Reliance is in talks with Microsoft for the same.

MTNL is giving this service for 200 Rs. as monthly rental and 1000 Rs. installation charges.You can search the contents with user friendly interphase. You can record your favorite shows. You can access your photos and music from your personal computer.IPTV also have contents like trailors, movies, videos, health shows, sports shows available for just for Rs. 10 to Rs. 80 per view. These contents are available for 24 hours so you can view it as per your convenience.

IPTV is interactive as it permits two-way communication you can get the IPTV on a regular telephone line with telephone and normal web access. It can also be extended to provide TV commerce services.

IPTV still has long way to go as it phases many challenges. Real time data transmission is still a dream in traditional telephone networks. The penetration of broad band network in the countries like India is very low.

Content Management is the important part of the IPTV. The content Management applies to both the programes shown on the TV as well as to the advertising through which they geenrated the money. The advertising is the customer oriented and is different for different customers; hence the job of the IPTV providers is compolex. They have to manage the advertisement and show according to the customer type. As the bandwidth is less the encoding of contents before putting it up on the network is quiet necessary. The IPTV content management also deals with the Rights management of the programs they will be storing and showing to the customers. As the contents are created by different producers, TV compnaies and individuals, it is the responsibility of the IPTV providers to protect the Right of their respective owners. The innovative billing system is also necessary to address the diverse nature of access pattern of the users.

As the service is economical and of good quality, its performance is expected to grow upto 75000 customers by 2011. Some big players are expected to join the army of IPTV providers, which will boost the investment in this area.