[May 10, 2005]

IPTV Report Hits the Market

By David Sims, TMCnet CRM Alert Columnist

At the Telecom Video 2005 show in Amsterdam this week, MRG is announcing a new installment of its IPTV Tracking Service series, “IPTV Content Strategies - May 2005.”

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of IP TV content deployment strategies in four major global markets, revealing how international and local content developers, aggregators, and consultants are assisting IPTV service providers in the design and deployment of linear video, video-on-demand, and interactive services.

“IPTV services cannot simply mimic cable or satellite to be successful," states Bob Larribeau, MRG Senior Analyst. "Service providers have to offer different and better choices to succeed against cable or satellite."

On the way out, Larribeau thinks, is "forced buy-through," which requires consumers to subscribe up to 80 "basic" channels before accessing premium channels; and on the way in is "personalization," where consumers have direct choice over large groupings of linear and VOD channels, rather than paying for scores of channels they don't use.

The report gives examples of how IPTV providers are innovating in two critical areas-better choice (without forced buy-through) and better interactive experiences.

Over 20 IPTV content firms are profiled, including each company's strategies and outlook for IPTV; broadcast, VOD, and interactive offerings; positions on content protection and digital rights management (DRM); and key customers.

"We believe this is the first comprehensive global report of IPTV content companies," states Gary Schultz, MRG president. "IPTV content is crucially important to IPTV service providers because local competition is driving them to move more toward personalization of choice, and unique triple-play offerings."

Corporate profiles include content producers BBC Worldwide, BBC Interactive, Hallmark Channel, ImaginAsianTV, Mag Rack, and Shalom TV; content consultants 3Vision, Broadband Network Systems, and ON Demand Group; content aggregators Broadstream Communications, Gotuit Media, ICTV, and ViewNow/Kasenna; and system providers Alcatel and Myrio/Siemens.

David Sims is contributing editor and CRM Alert columnist for TMCnet.

To discover how contact centers can save money and increase productivity by making the switch to IP Telephony, be sure to attend TMC's IP Contact Center Summit May 24-26, 2005, in Dallas, Texas. IP Contact Center Summit is co-located with the Speech-World conference, where you can get expert guidance in the deployment of speech technologies to strengthen customer relationships.