DEFINING IPTV

There is a lot of buzz and excitement at the moment with regard to IPTV. The technology is growing in importance and is starting to have a disruptive effect on the business models of traditional pay TV network operators.

But what does the IPTV acronym mean and how will it affect TV viewing? For a start, IPTV, also called Internet Protocol Television, Telco TV, or broadband TV, is about securely delivering high quality broadcast television and/or on-demand video and audio content over a broadband network. IPTV is generally a term that is applied to the delivery of traditional TV channels, movies, and video-on-demand content over a private network. From an end user’s perspective, IPTV looks and operates just like a standard pay TV service. The official definition approved by the International Telecommunication Union focus group on IPTV (ITU-T FG IPTV) is as follows:

IPTV is defined as multimedia services such as television/video/audio/ text/ graphics/ data delivered over IP based networks managed to provide the required level of quality of service and experience, security, interactivity and reliability.

From a service provider’s perspective, IPTV encompasses the acquisition, processing, and secure delivery of video content over an IP based networking infrastructure. The type of service providers involved in deploying IPTV services range from cable and satellite TV carriers to the
large telephone companies and private network operators in different parts of the world.

IPTV has a number of features:

. Support for interactive - two-way capabilities of IPTV systems allow service providers to deliver a whole raft of interactive TV applications. The types of services delivered via an IPTV service can include standard live TV, high definition TV (HDTV), interactive games, and high speed Internet browsing.

. Time shifting - IPTV in combination with a digital video recorder permits the time shifting of programming content - a mechanism for recording and storing IPTV content for later viewing.

. Personalization - An end-to-end IPTV system supports bidirectional communications
and allows end users personalize their TV viewing habits by
allowing them to decide what they want to watch and when they want to
watch it.

. Low bandwidth requirements - Instead of delivering every channel to every end user, IPTV technologies allows service providers to only stream the channel that the end user has requested. This attractive feature allows network operators to conserve bandwidth on their networks.

. Accessible on multiple devices - Viewing of IPTV content is not limited to
televisions. Consumers often use their PCs and mobile devices to access IPTV
services.