During the second half of the 20th century, viewers' lives were dominated by the consumption of linear TV channels. These were specific television programs, created by placing content items one after the other, and broadcast to the mass audience. At first, TV channels were primarily delivered "via the air" - using VHF and UHF spectrum - and were, therefore, free. TV broadcasting was either financed by the authorities in the case of public broadcasting or by advertisements and subscriptions.
Later cable TV operators deployed dedicated infrastructure for television delivery, enabling paid subscription. Satellite operators followed suit, protecting their subscription revenues by implementing conditional access technologies. Cable and satellite TV operators also distributed STBs (set top boxes), to translate the communicated signals into a standard TV input (whether it be PAL, SECAM or NTSC). The common arrangement was for the TV operator to charge a flat monthly subscription fee - according to the choice of TV channels - and provide the STB(s) for free, often against a customer deposit.
In the last decade the number of channels available grew from few tens to hundreds, but the broadcast distribution medium in India remained analog while rest of the world moved to digital distribution. The viewers kept consuming a handful of TV "channels", according to their own preferences. User interface was limited by the "remote control" device. This old industry/market structure put the power in the hands of the TV operator. Today TV service is either a monopoly or duopoly, comprising a single cable and two or three DTH service providers.
The content providers seeking to provide their assets to viewers in any particular geography had to sign directly with one of the few operators serving it. Alternatively, they could do business indirectly through a limited number of intermediary aggregators. Over the last ten years there has been a significant change in various parts of the TV ecosystem. However, this has not caused a dramatic change in the TV broadcasting paradigm, yet.
The new TV Medium
The TV, Internet and Mobile are commonly used terms. In India we have 70 million cable homes, 286 million mobile phones, 40 million landline connections and 4.39 million Internet-enabled broadband connections. Due to convergence, television can be viewed at large through all available mediums. It is a converged era, where cable TV operators can also provide broadband for Internet and voice over IP, while telecom service providers can provide through a single medium, landline phones, Voice, data, and video thus creating a triple play effect.
The IP (Internet Protocol) is being used primarily for checking e-mails, and browsing on the Internet for information and commercial purposes. This is a powerful medium and capable of delivering streaming videos to any place. In the last two years it has been noticed that video has emerged as a new medium for sharing user-generated content at sites such as YouTube and Orkut.
When it comes to mass consumption of IP Video (TV) vis-à-vis cable TV, it creates a challenge for the Internet infrastructure and content delivery companies, telecom operators, and entrepreneurs seeking to seize the opportunity provided by IPTV.
Emergence of Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), creates a hope among telecom service provider to have an extra revenue stream through this medium and increase the ARPU (average revenue per unit), and stop the churn of fixed line phones. The TV viewing is ‘lean backward' whereas TV viewing on your PC and TV or Mobile is ‘lean forward', which means it is highly interactive.
What is IPTV?
Definition of IPTV by ITU-T's IPTV Focus Group:
"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 (QoS)/quality of experience (QoE), security, interactivity and reliability."
To clarify, IPTV stands for Internet Protocol Television, referring to the use of the Internet as a protocol, not as a network infrastructure. Accordingly, IPTV is comprised of television services provided over network and controlled by the service operators such as telecom, cable or Internet service providers. Internet TV refers to television service provided over the open un-controlled public Internet. The question therefore arises "Should you own and/or control the physical network or use the available public Internet?"
IPTV at the same time is a multicast and unicast platform and viewer can choose from hundreds of channels and also make a demand for his choice, while cable TV and satellite TV are broadcast modes and the viewer can see only what is being broadcast. This clear differentiator makes IPTV a clear winner.
How IPTV is being delivered?
IPTV needs a broadband connection and set top box for access, and subscriber identity to secure the content. IPTV can be viewed on normal TV and PC. Being a digital platform, the picture quality is very high.
What is Mobile TV?
Proliferation of large number of mobile sets in the country and at the same time innovative technology enable service providers for value added services for customer delight. Mobile TV is one such medium.
How mobile TV is being delivered?
Primarily mobile TV can be delivered the same way as IPTV is delivered to Standard TV or a PC using H.264 Technology. The other way is through broadcast where technology like DVB-H and MediaFLO are being used.
Challenges for IPTV and Mobile TV
The biggest challenge for Mobile TV is content provision for small screen as the content developed for large screen would not suit small screen. Therefore there is need for developing new skill set for provisioning the media which suits small screen.
Other challenges are regulatory and policy framework. TRAI has recently made its recommendation for both IPTV and Mobile TV services. A clear cut policy guideline from the government is still pending. Till then these services cannot be launched commercially by the service providers.
Advantage of IPTV and Mobile TV
Apart from providing entertainment, IPTV and mobile TV, being truly interactive media, also provide information at the press of a button such as:
- Information access on-the-go
- Emergency information dissemination
- Overcoming literacy barrier
- Interactivity
- Entertainment for the users
- Wide variety of real-time content at much better quality
- Information and entertainment for consumer
- Compelling new experience via interactivity and integrated VOD (Video on demand). Ability to receive real-time streaming data such as weather, news updates, stock quotes, and sport information.
Technologies are changing fast and so are the innovators of content for these technologies, but the agony is that our policy framework is too slow to cope with the changing needs. The customer is more than willing to select any service which entertains him and adds some value for the money which he/she spends on it. The new yardstick has made its way as QoE (quality of entertainment). The customer does not want to get into the muddle where he has to struggle to find out the features of a product as is the case with mobile handsets. The handsets come out with so many features and confuse the customer, resulting in his not being aware of all the features, which in any case he seldom uses. The user-friendly features are always liked by the consumers, whether these are in an ATM machine to do transactions, buying a ticket through Internet, paying utility bill on line or buying a cinema ticket; he wants seamless service.
Over a period of time, customer behavior has changed a lot. Now the customer does not have much patience. If he spends two hours standing in a queue to pay his bills, or buying a rail or cinema ticket, he is not interested. The technology-enabled services allow the customer to use the service according to his needs and interests through interaction. This is the way forward where new services such as IPTV and mobile TV are making the life of a common man simpler and at the same time more enjoyable.