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the magazine for all of your ipTV information.

IPTV in CHINA

• China Netcom makes IPTV progress in Harbin • Market conditions argue for de-regulations

PLUS

INSIDE

Roundup of all the latest IPTV news from around the world Page 34

Operator news: Telekom Austria, T-Com in Montenegro and Macedonia and more...

The New AT&T. Or, the reinvention of the phone company as we no longer know it

Page 9

Page 17

Looking at the convergence between “online” and “traditional” TV Page 14

ALSO INSIDE

Rob Kobrin explains the use of metadata and it’s importance in IPTV and Internet video Page 20

ANALYSIS BY ANNALISE BERENDT >>See features page 22

ipTVnews 01 September/October www.iptv-news.com

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contents 10

editor’s introduction IPTV is changing, and we’ve changed with it. In your hands, you are holding the first issue of ipTVnews, which, until earlier this year, was published as a newsletter called ipTV News Analyst. This improved version allows us to provide more content. With each issue, we will endeavor to provide significant industry and operator news, overviews of recent and significant IPTV deployments, IPTV and Internet Video technology analysis, business and regulatory topics, plus detailed looks at regional or country IPTV markets.

IPTV in China

True to this charter, this issue contains a mix of items that touch all of these aforementioned topics. We are fortunate to have the perspectives of Alan Weinkrantz of Texas, a “real, live” AT&T U-verse IPTV consumer, who will visit with us every so often. Branislav Pekic gives us news from Austria and the former Yugoslavia. Ritesh Gupta and I add articles on IPTV in China. On the Internet TV front, analyst Annelise Berendt of Ovum and Philip Hunter provide analysis. Rob Kobrin, an executive from the content production world, tells us about the often-overlooked (to our peril) world of IPTV metadata. All of this underscores our having expert contributors that are stationed around the world. There has been much debate as to what IPTV “is” these days. We say that “IPTV” is the secure delivery of high-quality multichannel television, on-demand video and related multimedia content, via a dedicated network, to a consumer electronics device such as a set-top box, a computer, or a portable device that’s served by broadband IP access. This is in contrast to “Internet Video” – be it live TV or video-on-demand – brought to you via the open Internet on a best-effort basis. IPTV and Internet video can and will co-exist in a single service, and in some regions, be joined by digital television delivered over-the-air, by satellite or via fixed lines. And surely, new delivery models will come into play. But covering such trends is what we’re about. Between bi-monthly issues, we receive hundreds of industry news releases, so IPTV News is accompanied by a Web site, entitled (surprise) iptv-news.com. Via the site, you can subscribe to our e-newsletter and stay abreast of the headlines. Jamie Beach and I have selected some of them for publication in this magazine. We welcome you to IPTV News and look forward to seeing you around the industry! Please feel welcome to contact us. Along with our Web site, our sister publication, New Video Technology, and our association with the IPTV World Series events, we will provide a comprehensive view of the total IP Video industry.

IP Video

The New AT&T

Industry News

• IPTV video revenue to reach $26bn by 2011 • NDS to acquire CastUp for $11.3mn

Operator News • Telekom Austria to complete rollout of IPTV • IPTV progress made by China Netcom

IPTV in China

What is holding back China when it comes to IPTV or other technologies?

Thanks for reading. Sincerely,

Internet TV

Steve Hawley

The New AT&T

Convergence mania

Or, the reinvention of the phone company as we no longer know it

Metadata for IPTV

Information

A practical introduction

While we seek to ensure the accuracy of all reports, we cannot guarantee them. The publisher accepts no liability for losses or damage caused as a result of actions based upon information contained in IPTV News Analyst.

Analyst Piece

By Annalise Berendt

Contributors this month Annalise Berendt, Ritesh Gupta, Steve Hawley, Phillip Hunter, Rob Kobrin, Branislav Pekic, Alan Weinkrantz.

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NEWS in brief

Qwest adds HD programming to ChoiceTV service Qwest Communications has announced that it has added new highdefinition programming to its ChoiceTV video service in Phoenix, Arizona. The new HD channels include Fox Sports Net Arizona, Universal HD, Golf/VERSUS HD, ASUtv and KPHE-TV, and customers with an HD subscription will have access to all the new channels at no additional charge. The ChoiceTV service is delivered over Very HighSpeed Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL) using Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) rather than Internet protocol. The Phoenix Suns NBA team have also announced that all Suns games for the 2007-08 season will be available in HD on the FSN Arizona channel, the first such move by an NBA team.

IPTV video revenue to reach $26bn by 2011 The market for IPTV video services will reach $26.3bn by 2011, not including advertising and value-added TV services, according to the latest report from market intelligence firm iSuppli. The report, entitled “IPTV Content & Services 2007: Telecom Companies Turn up the Heat”, also forecasts that value-added offerings included in IPTV services, such as digital music, on-demand gaming, data services, home security and other items, will boost global IPTV revenue by over $1bn by 2010. The worldwide market for IPTV video services, not including advertising and value-added TV services, reached $779.2mn in 2006. iSuppli also believes that IPTV will have significant room for expansion in the years beyond 2011: “Subscriber and revenue growth in the IPTV market will be awesome,” commented Frank Dickson, principal analyst for iSuppli. “However, to put things into perspective, Comcast had 2006 pro-forma cable revenue of over $26bn. It is very likely that the entire worldwide IPTV industry in 2011 will not be as large as Comcast alone is.” The report also predicts that features such as high-definition programming, digital video recording and remote access will be the main features which telcos focus on to gain a competitive edge.

Cable & Wireless forms IPTV deal with Inuk Networks Cable & Wireless has announced that it is to deliver national IPTV services in the UK via broadband, thanks to a wholesale deal it has secured with Inuk Networks. The contract is worth around £70mn over five years, and will involve Cable & Wireless offering Inuk’s IPTV platform as a white label solution to other wholesale DSL customers who intend to provide their own customers with IPTV. Cable & Wireless is to deliver a triple-play offering of television, telephony and broadband access to Freewire, Inuk’s go-to-market subsidiary. Freewire is expected to be able to offer IPTV to UK

MRG middleware report identifies IPTV leaders Multimedia Research Group (MRG) has released a report to guide IPTV operators through the pitfalls of middleware and help them identify the set-up best suited for them, as well as naming the best (and worst) IPTV companies globally. “Without flexible middleware that can easily and predictably increase the number of subscribers and the breadth of services, IPTV operators will not sustain long-term growth or stability”, commented Steve Hawley, MRG Senior Analyst. “Middleware can make or break the success of an IPTV service.” In terms of actual deployed subscribers, Thomson, Cascade, Alcatel-Lucent (MiViewTV), UTStarcom and Nokia Siemens Networks (Myrio) came in the report’s top five globally. Microsoft Mediaroom (formerly IPTV Edition) came in last out of fourteen IPTV companies, indicating continued scaling problems with its middleware using Microsoft-required technologies, according to the report.

IPTV NEWS SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

InfoValue launches NextGenTV IPTV solution

NDS to acquire CastUp for $11.3mn

InfoValue Computing, a US provider of IPTV solutions, has announced the launch of its NextGenTV IPTV solution for service providers. NextGenTV offers configuration and management options for service providers, such as the ability to configure the recording periods of timeshifted TV channels and limit the number of programs each viewer can record, and according to the company can be implemented incrementally.

NDS has announced it is acquiring CastUp, a Tel Aviv-based provider of end-to-end solutions for the acquisition, processing, distribution and serving of media content over IP, for $11.3mn.

“ We are very excited about the possibilities for new and comprehensive solutions for the delivery, management and control of online media assets,”

The deal is intended to bolster NDS’ online video delivery and aid its current pay-TV customers to expand their broadband video distribution services, as well as help NDS to develop new services and applications for broadband-enabled set-top boxes.

commented Dr. Abe Peled, Chairman and CEO of NDS. The deal is expected to be closed in the first quarter of 2008. CastUp is expected to operate as a separate unit within NDS under the direction of the current management team.

Widevine tops ranking of IPTV DRM vendors Widevine has been ranked first in the latest Vendor Matrix by ABI Research looking at IPTV digital rights management (DRM) vendors. Verimatrix and NDS claimed second and third places respectively in the study, which examines vendors’ positions in specific markets. 16 different criteria were split into two main segments – innovation and implementation, with each given a score out of 100.

Comcast comes top of VoIP providers in US Comcast was the leading US provider of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in 2006, according to a report from Yankee Group. The report’s findings demonstrated that Comcast and every other major cable operator has aggressively taken on incumbent telcos for their core business, leading to increased interest in offering IPTV services. Customers in the US accessing VoIP via their cable provider jumped 167% in 2006 from 3.9mn subscribers to 6.3mn, and Yankee Group expects that number to reach 26.2mn by 2011. In a separate survey, Yankee Group found that only 9.5% of cable telephony subscribers knew that their phone service was delivered over Internet protocol. Behind Comcast was previous leader Vonage, which added 1.2mn lines in 2006, a 75% increase in subscribers. Time Warner added 760,000 new VoIP subscribers in 2006 to reach 1.86mn at year-end, while Cablevision ended the year with 1.2mn VoIP customers, or around 26% of homes in its footprint.

Minerva Networks partners with Integra5 to deliver converged IPTV solution

Minerva Networks has partnered with Integra5 to integrate Minerva’s iTVManager and Integra5’s i5 Converged Services Platform (CSP). The combined solution is intended to enable IPTV operators to offer an expanded choice of converged quad play applications and services. “Working with Minerva, we are able to provide an end-to-end solution that enables IPTV service providers to quickly deploy cross-platform voice, video,1data15/8/07 and wireless services, tailored to individual subscriber preferences,” commented Eyal Bartfeld, Co-founder and Executive Vice Project2:Layout 12:00 Page 1 President of Strategy for Integra5.

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Labib Matta CEO, Nuetel Communications, Bahrain

Rikus Matthyser Chief; Strategy & Operations, Telkom Media, South Africa

Dr. Cebrail Taskin IPTV Program Leader, Turk Telekom

Mark Denton VP, International Sales & New Media, Ten Sports

Alessandro Petazzi Director, IPTV Marketing & Content, FASTWEB, Italy

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IPTV NEWS SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

NEWS in brief DigiSoft.tv and Tech Mahindra introduce mobile phone tracking solutions for IPTV services DigiSoft.tv, a global provider of IPTV solutions with headquarters in Ireland, and Tech Mahindra, a supplier of end-to-end solutions for the telecoms industry, have announced the launch of an application that allows users of IPTV services to track mobile phones from their TV. The product is called DigiTracker, and is designed for global IPTV operators to allow viewers such as parents to see the current location of mobile phones, and also allow text messages to be sent to the phone. The application uses integrations to Location Based Services (LBS) and mapping systems to enable the plotting of a mobile location on a map and display it on the TV. “There is an immense appeal for this type of technology as parents concerned about the safety, well being and location of their children can know exactly where they are,” said John Allen, CEO of DigiSoft.tv. “This is the start of a whole new age for TV as the entire interaction takes place from the armchair at home, while watching a TV show, using nothing more than the TV remote control,” added Shankar Allimatti, Vice President of Next Generation Technologies for Tech Mahindra.

Orange Rewind TV service to offer on-demand France Télévision content Orange is developing a new service in France called Rewind TV, which allows viewers to watch content from the main free France Télévision programs via their IPTV set-top box, PC or mobile phone. The service will be launched at the end of 2007 and channels available will include France 2, France 3, France 4, France 5 and France Ô. Programs will be available through the service for periods ranging from 7 to 30 days after first airing, and France Télévision will also continue to offer content on its Internet site. Orange is part of France Telecom and has over 161mn customers on 5 continents.

Deutsche Telekom launches IPTV over ADSL2+ Deutsche Telekom has started providing IPTV over its ADSL2+ network, significantly increasing its geographical coverage. Previously, the service was only available on its VDSL network, available in ten cities in Germany at present. The service will now become available to 17mn households in 750 German cities and towns by the end of the year, and the telco is targeting 1.5mn IPTV customers by the end of 2010, compared to the 25,000 it reported at the end of 2006.

Deutsche Telekom will offer the same bundle of TV channels as it does via its VDSL fibre-optic network, with the exception of HDTV. The three packages start at €49.95 a month, subject to a minimum 24-month contract.

MTNL aims to reach 50,000 subscribers for IPTV service in 18 months Indian telco Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) has revealed that it aims to reach 50,000 subscribers for its IPTV service within 18 months. The service was launched last July, and currently numbers under 1,000 subscribers. The company hopes that it will be helped by its target to increase broadband connections to 500,000 in the cities of both Mumbai and Delhi. MTNL currently has 225,000 broadband lines out of a total of 4.5mn fixed line subscribers in the two cities. “We have 1,000 connections getting done per day in broadband so IPTV takeoff will be faster,” said RP Sinha, Chairman and Managing Director of MTNL. Subscribers currently pay Rs 3,500 (US$ 85.34) for a set-top box and a monthly rental of Rs 120 for 52 channels in Delhi, with around 100 channels expected to be available within a month’s time.

IPTV NEWS SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

ADB wins contract to supply Telefónica Chile with IPTV settop boxes Advanced Digital Broadcast (ADB), a Swiss supplier of digital TV systems and software solutions for interactive television, has won a contract to supply Telefónica Chile with IPTV set-top boxes for the operator’s forthcoming service. Telefónica Chile chose the ADB-3800W-SD unit for its deployment, which will be integrated with Telefónica’s Imagenio middleware and incorporate MPEG-2 and H.264/MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding (AVC), as well as an HDMI interface. “We are committed to ensuring that the launch of the television over broadband service will be very successful and that ADB’s settop boxes will present the perfect technology platform to expand and develop the service portfolio in years to come,” commented a spokesman for Telefónica Chile.

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NEWS in brief Harmonic to acquire Rhozet Harmonic has announced that it has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Rhozet Corporation, a US provider of software-based universal transcoding solutions, in a deal worth $15.5mn. The purchase price is comprised of cash and the value of approximately 1.1mn shares of Harmonic stock. The addition of Rhozet’s software transcoding technology is expected to enable Harmonic’s existing customers to create and deliver Internet and mobile video programming, and also expand Harmonic’s presence into the online video service provisioning market. “Viewers are increasingly turning to the Internet and mobile devices to watch an ever-expanding range of video content,” said Patrick Harshman, President and CEO of Harmonic. “Rhozet’s software transcoding technology is a natural extension to Harmonic’s market-leading IP-enabled compression and ondemand solutions, and we believe that our combined solutions will make it possible for service providers to deliver superior quality video to virtually any device.” Rhozet’s product line includes Carbon Coder, a stand-alone software transcoding application, and Carbon Server, an enterprise-level distributed transcoding

Telekom Slovenije to invest €450mn on fibre-to-the-home by 2015 Slovenian operator Telekom Slovenije has revealed that it plans to invest up to €450mn (US$619.295mn) between now and 2015 on a fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network, in order to boost high-speed access capabilities and encourage uptake of advanced services such as IPTV. The operator reportedly aims to offer high-speed access capabilities to 70% of households in the country, which has a population of 2mn. Telekom Slovenije, which has denominated the project F2, intends to invest €50mn this year to deliver fibre to 50,000 homes in Slovenia’s main cities. The operator aims to have 100,000 homes connected with point-to-point active Ethernet by the end of 2008, and 300,000 by the end of 2010. By 2015, Telekom Slovenije intends to rollout fibre to around 434,000 homes, comprising 70% of Slovenia’s households, which should help encourage adoption of bandwidth-intensive services Advertsuch 21/8/07 1:33 pm Page and 1 interactive gaming. The operator launched its IPTV as IPTV, video-on-demand service, SiOL, earlier this year.

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IPTV NEWS SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

Korean telco hanarotelecom has announced that it passed 500,000 subscribers for its hanaTV IPTV service in the second quarter of 2007. Revenue from its hanaTV service reached KRW 7.7bn (US$ 8.1mn) between May and June 2007, more than double the amount reported for the previous quarter. Pay-per-view revenue for the service reached KRW 1bn in the second quarter of 2007, compared to KRW 200mn for the previous quarter, making the service rapidly more profitable, the company reported. The company’s total revenue for the period reached KRW 461.7bn, up 2.4% from the previous quarter and 7.7% year-on-year. Operating income reached KRW 19.4bn in the second quarter of the previous year, up 159.2% from the same period of the previous year. The company also reported 32,000 new broadband subscribers for the quarter, and more than 1.25mn subscribers for its 100Mbps service. “We were able to achieve the record high quarterly revenues and a positive net income in the 2nd quarter of this year, owing to a stable growth in our core businesses and a remarkable revenue increase in our new growth engines such as hanaTV and corporate businesses,”

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Operator

NEWS

Telekom Austria to complete rollout of IPTV service Over the past three months, Telekom Austria has extended IPTV service availability to the cities of Bregenz, Eisenstadt, Klagenfurt, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Linz and Graz By Branislav Pekic. When Telekom Austria’s aonDigital TV was launched in Vienna in March 2006, it had full ADSL2+ coverage from the start. Further rollout in the remaining state capitals has taken place throughout August. Subscribers can receive free-to-air and pay-TV channels, video-on-demand (VoD) and electronic programme guide (EPG). The basic package, with 49 national and international TV channels (including ORF, ARD, ZDF, BBC, TV5 and RAI), costs €9.90 per month, while the premium package with an additional 17 premium channels (including National Geographic, Disney Channels and NASN) costs €7.90. The VOD service offers a wide range of feature films, TV series and programs for children. Regularly updated news reports complete the television offerings. In addition, aonDigital TV also offers a number of innovative applications for personal-content sharing at its customer portal (such as digital photos and auto-generated content via the company’s weblog service).

aonDigitalTV can be watched on standard television sets via a settop-box connected to Telekom Austria’s ADSL network. aonDigital TV is using Alcatel’s IP-based network infrastructure and end-to-end video solution to support its service. Alcatel has provided DSLAMs, IP routers and optical transport equipment as well as its end-to-end video solution. Headend includes Harmonic’s DiviCom encoders, ProView PVS 6000 integrated receivers/decoders and NMX Digital Service Manager. Content protection is NDS Synamedia. Telekom Austria sells Amino 110 set-tops for €79.90. Take-up has been slower then expected, due to competition from Austrian cable network operator UPC Telekabel.

T-Com plans IPTV services in Montenegro & Macedonia T-Com’s Montenegro and Macedonia fixed-line operators have both announced IPTV launches, in 2007 and 2008 respectively. Meanwhile, T-Com’s MAXtv in Croatia has crossed the 20,000 subscriber mark. By Branislav Pekic T-Com Montenegro, the fixed-line unit of Telekom Crne Gore, is targeting the end of 2007 for its IPTV service. According to the director of development for the fixed/broadband network of T-Com, Vuk Gojnic, the operator plans to use the Microsoft Media Room platform (formerly known as Microsoft TV IPTV Edition) for its IPTV service. He said that the IPTV package will include more than 60 channels, most of which subtitled in the local language, and that from the start it will be available in all municipalities in Montenegro. Mr. Gojnic added that the monthly subscription for the basic package, which will include 50 channels, will be around €7, which is similar to the prices charged by cable operators. However, Montenegro’s Broadcasting Agency (ARD) has warned T-Com that it needs a license before launching IPTV services. ARD director, Abaz Dzafic, pointed out that the distribution of radio and TV channels via IP and direct satellite distribution represents disloyal competition to cable TV and will be regulated with special rules, beginning this September. Reacting to T-Com’s plans, Dzafic said such a service cannot be launched without the previous authorisation of the regulating body. In Macedonia, the fixed-telephony monopoly Makedonski Telekomunikacii (MakTel, now a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom) is also planning to compete against cable operators, by offering a package of 40-60 IPTV channels, localised in the Macedonian language. The new service, which will become available to an estimated 20,000 ADSL users, could launch in 2008. The company management is not revealing the start-up costs or the price list for the IPTV service, but local press reports claim it will be one of MakTel’s biggest investments to date. Before launching the project,

the operator is planning to launch a new ADSL package, with lower prices and faster speeds. The Board of Directors of MakTel has provided pre-approvals to the company’s management to start some major investments and key projects, including extending IPTV and ADSL services and further developing the support infrastructure. In Croatia, T-Com’s IPTV service MAXtv reached 20,000 subscribers in June and began to distribute a new Scientific Atlanta HDTV set-top box to its subscribers. T-Com also signed a new content agreement with film and video distributor Blitz, which will supply around 200 titles for MAXtv’s VoD service, including movies, animated series and documentaries. The movie package includes such hit titles as “Mr and Mrs Smith”, “Aviator”, “Babel” and “Apocalypto”. Analysts at Ovum have selected MAXtv as one of the best IPTV services in the world. In its report on the global market which was presented recently in Cannes, Ovum mentioned the Croatian operator as a positive example in the world of “Internet TV.” Its analysts considered MAXtv as a trend setter in several areas, since it produces a significant part of its own programming and provides a video-on-demand service. Infrastructure includes Myrio (Nokia Siemens) middleware, and EN5930 SD encoders, TT1222 professional receivers and TT7140 IP streamers from Tandberg. Branislav Pekic has been a frequent contributor to IPTV News Analyst. He is based in Rome.

IPTV NEWS SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

Operator

NEWS

IPTV progress made by China Netcom in Harbin The first commercial IPTV service in China now has more than 107,000 IPTV subscribers, out of a capacity of more than 130,000. By Steven Hawley Many analysts agree that China will become the world’s largest IPTV market. The two major national operators, China Netcom, which operates in ten northern provinces, and China Telecom, in 21 southern provinces, have been deploying advanced services in major cities, as part of an aggressive telecommunications modernisation program. The industrial city of Harbin, one of the largest cities in northeastern China, has a population of more than five million people. Harbin Netcom, a branch of China Netcom, is the largest of five operators, with about 300,000 subscribers, or a 44% share of the telecom market in the city. One hundred percent of this subscriber base has access to the Internet. About eighty percent of its 107,000 IPTV subscribers reside within the city itself and the remainder are in surrounding areas. While telecommunications competition is robust in Harbin, as well as in other large Chinese markets, TV competition is more confined: SARFT, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, is the only authority. Over-the-air broadcasters can provide TV programming, and there are many cable television operators; but they all must obtain programming sanctioned by SARFT. Also, there is no direct-broadcast satellite TV in China. Chinese regulators prohibit telecom operators from producing their own television content. Therefore, Shanghai Media Group (SMG), the first of four SARFT-licensed TV providers in China, provides national programming in Harbin. Interestingly, at least for the short term, video is encoded as MPEG-4, rather than in the AVS format, which is the Chinese national standard. A close partnership exists between Harbin Netcom, SMG and UTStarcom, which provides network elements, its streaming platform and set-top boxes. SMG manages the streaming media platform while China Netcom (Harbin Netcom) manages the carrier network. In addition, China Netcom takes full charge of the billing systems. Harbin Netcom offers two categories of IPTV services: live TV and streaming media services. SMG delivers live programming from Shanghai to Harbin via satellite. Although SMG offers more than 110 TV channels, not all of them may be approved by the regulator for distribution to Harbin (about 70 at the time of this article). There are two consumer offers: a RMB 30/month “low-end” package and a RMB 60/month “high-end” package. Therefore, monthly revenue is the equivalent of US $4 to US $8 per month. Revenues are 10 IPTV NEWS SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

split between Harbin Netcom and SMG, and the revenue-split is different, depending upon which of the entities sold the service to the subscriber. Regardless of package, the current IPTV offers are not big revenuegenerators for either partner, to be sure, in comparison to service packages outside of China, but it is affordable and is a beach-head from which SMG and Harbin Netcom can offer additional services beyond TV and VOD. When asked what they believed would be the next “killer app,” Harbin Telecom officials responded that they shall be focusing on value-added services such as personal videoconferencing and games. They believe that IPTV will be a catalyst for demand. When Harbin launched in 2005, the initial promotional push was to high-end cable consumers, followed in 2006 by promotions to a broader audience, including non-cable households and homes in surburban and urban areas. The operator advertises in its own properties, including telephone directories and on the sides of China Netcom trucks, and also in print advertising, on radio and

In 2005, the operator deployed a new three-layer Cisco-based metropolitan-area network with a 40 gigabit core and 80 gigabit aggregation, capable of delivering 5,000 simultaneous video streams, which gives the operator a strong foundation for IPTV services. on television. Although it is new, and represented only about RMB 300,000 in 2006 revenue, in comparison to more than RMB 3 Billion in overall fixed-line revenue that year, IPTV has in fact been the driving force in Harbin Telecom’s capital spending. Bandwidth to the home, over ADSL access, has increased to 8mbps, which Harbin Telecom considers to be adequate for its service. In 2007, the operator’s emphasis has been on increasing capacity in the suburbs and outlying areas, while a lesser investment is being made in the urban areas. Over time, the operator will deploy optical fibre access (rather than moving to VDSL2), in order to accommodate HDTV programming; the first of which became available early this year.

COVER feature

Confused regulatory regime affects IPTV in China The market for mobile TV and IPTV as new broadcasting access technologies in China is undoubtedly quite attractive. So what is holding back China when it comes to IPTV or other technologies? By Ritesh Gupta The IPTV vs. DTV battle can be described as a battle between the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) and State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT). The cause of the battle is that telecommunications and media technologies are converging but there remain two distinct government regulators. Early last year, Analysys International, an analyst of the technology, media and telecom (TMT) industries in China, had stated that China’s IPTV video coding and decoding standards are not yet unified. Compatibility and interconnection among different devices and content are still a puzzle. Analysys said that this unification of IPTV standards is not just a matter of technology but also of the interplay between the broadcast industry, the telecom industry and the whole industry chain – and this will take time. For example, broadcasting authorities acknowledge concerns that IPTV could hurt cable TV operators in China. “The number of cable TV subscribers in China is huge: around 120 million,” according to Andrew Chetham, Research Vice President, Consumer Communications Services, Gartner Group. “The carriers don’t have IPTV licenses. These are held by four non-telco entities, one being Shanghai Media Group. They are all affiliates of the broadcast regulator SARFT. In order to offer IPTV, both China Telecom and China Netcom partner with SMG to be able to offer IPTV,” said Chetham. The dependency on licensees like CCTV and SMG for content, are seen as a major hindrance for IPTV services from atelco’s perspective. Local analysts admit that both China Netcom

and China Telecom have built trial IPTV networks in a number of cities, but are unable to sign up commercial users without getting the nod from regulators. The convergence has sparked conflicts of interest between broadcasting and telecoms groups, which have also delayed the introduction of China’s telecoms law, according to local media, until at least March of next year. Mr. Chetham also pointed out that CCTV (China Central Television) also has a license. “This leads to a complex arrangement whereby the carriers provide the access, and the distribution network and the billing around the content and the licensees provide the license, content and in several cases the set-top-box,” he said.

both China Telecom “ Because and China Netcom both rely heavily on SMG for their content at the moment there’s little to differentiate these services, other than in their styles of bundling. China Telecom’s main strength is its size. Unlike any carrier in the world it has the ability to order in huge quantities and drive

”

Mr Chetham added that, “Unlike most other markets, IPTV in China is primarily about selling more broadband. The revenue upside on the IPTV service itself is very small currently and will be for many years. The economic means available to the average Chinese consumer dictates that IPTV cannot be more expensive than just a few dollars per month. On the other hand, broadband ARPUs are typically more like US$7-10, so using IPTV to sell more broadband makes sense, rather than seeing it as a standalone product.” Analysys International estimated that the total number of IPTV users had reached 612,000 by the first quarter of 2007 in China, increasing 36.3% quarter-on-quarter. This data was published in `China IPTV Market Quarterly Tracker Q1 2007’ report. It aligns closely with estimates from other analysts and from vendors active in the region.

IPTV NEWS AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 11

COVER feature Telcos call for:

Deregulation of IPTVmarket in China Market research reveals that consumers and enterprises in China have a strong interest in services that allow the simultaneous interplay of voice, video, data and multimedia applications By Ritesh Gupta In August, Alcatel-Lucent released research indicating that Chinese enterprises and consumers are willing to pay a premium for these “blended” services. In this context, it is not surprising that China Telecom and China Netcom are calling for the deregulation of the IPTV market, a move which would propel the broadband Internet business of these two fixed-line carriers. China IPTV base is growing quickly Andrew Chetham, the Research Vice President for Consumer Communications Services at Gartner Group in Hong Kong, told ipTVnews that there were only around 300,000 subscribers in China at the end of 2006 for IPTV services. “Though its not always clear what are real commercial subscribers and who gets it for free and who is a trial.” But growth is rapid: research released by UTStarcom this summer indicates that there are more than 625,000, and this excludes PCCW in Hong Kong. Mr. Chetham added, “Most subscribers are in Shanghai, followed by Harbin. These two were the first licensed operations. There are other IPTV operations in other cities but these are much smaller scale. During 2006 it looks like the subscribers base is growing quite nicely but very much centered on Shanghai.” China Telecom deploying in six Chinese cities China is well known for its potential, both for IPTV and mobile TV. Already, China has 140 million Internet users and around 500 million mobile users. When you consider these figures, it’s no wonder that a company like China Telecom complains that regulators have allowed the company to offer IPTV commercial services in six cities to date (Shanghai, Taizhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Xi’an and Hanzhong), while preventing it from reaching millions of additional potential customers across the country.

China Telecom launched IPTV services commercially in Shanghai in September 2006 using UTStarcom’s RollingStream IPTV system, after concluding trials with multiple vendors. Today, it offers over 60+ live channels, Time Shift TV, 5000 hours+ VOD content and a plethora of value added services including weather forecast, telephone directory and photo album applications. “UTStarcom estimates that China Telcom had roughly 310,000 IPTV subscribers on UTStarcom’s network at the end of July 2007, which accounted for roughly 68% of China Telecom’s total subscriber base,” said Brian Caskey, VP of Marketing for UTStarcom. “China Telecom is actively marketing its IPTV service and is looking at IPTV as one of its pillars of growth in the future,” he said. 12 IPTV

NEWS AUGUST/SEPTEMBER

China Telecom delivery infrastructure China Telecom is preparing for this growth. In China Telecom’s IPTV service delivery infrastructure, multicast video is streamed over optical transport to each province from centralised facilities. Mr. Caskey added that “China Telecom and China Netcom currently provides IPTV service over ADSL2+ access, but they are investing heavily on infrastructure upgrades, such as better performance switching, optical networks and broadband access – including PON (passive optical networks).” UTStarcom provides an integrated IPTV solution in China, using Envivio and Tandberg at the headend. Envivio recently announced support for the Chinese-standard AVS codec. The set-top boxes are from UTStarcom and ZTE. VOD content is streamed out from local UTStarcom streaming servers and ZTE SAN-based servers. DRM is also supplied by UTStarcom. In 2005, China Netcom used MPEG4 ASP in Harbin. In Shanghai a year later, China Telecom deployed H.264 encoders. China Telecom uses network-based PVR (nPVR) and storage is provided in the central, edge and local servers throughout the network, which enables the operator to deploy low-cost basic set-top boxes. Currently the system supports IPTV and PC-based video. Most of the content is provided by Shanghai Media Group (SMG) and China Central Television (CCTV). Value-added services will carry the day Just as is the case virtually everywhere else in the world, Telcodeployed IPTV must compete, in both quality and breadth of service, with cable TV. To do so, carriers in China are overhauling their existing network architectures and beginning to add PON, to enable greater capacity and flexibility. In addition, they are proactively exploring new value-added services. The IPTV operators, in conjunction with a content partner like SMG, are able to provide quality Live TV, VOD content and deliver applications like timeshifted television, games, photo album, or telephone yellow pages, which are not offered by cable. Both China Telecom and China Netcom can also develop their own value-added services, including personal videoconferencing. At its Hangzhou facility, UTStarcom is developing videophones and IP cameras. The company is also developing a telephone handset that can work as the remote control for the set-top box. User interface and applications have proven to differ by operator and province. Time Shift TV, VOD and Live TV are ubiquitous for subscribers in every province, but the preferences for other value added services differ from province to province, depending upon the relationships and the business case for the operator. Ritesh Gupta is based in New Delhi, India.

The tools of piracy

have changed. y t i r u c e s t n e t t e n e o m c o t r e u v l o o v y ? e e g n n n Caolutio e challe s th Entertainment demands are changing. Operators are responding with services delivered to three screens – TV, PC and mobile devices. If a single operator can deliver content to all three, shouldn’t they demand the same from their content security provider?

Verimatrix is setting the standard in pay-TV content security. With a vision that stretches from the “camera to the couch,” we understand the challenges posed by the networks of tomorrow. Innovations such as forensic watermarking and clone detection will protect and enhance your network. Come talk to us and see how our progressive technology roadmap matches your goals for delivering three screen services. Please visit us at www.verimatrix.com for more information.

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Convergence Mania

Internet TV The much heralded convergence between “online” and “traditional” TV is happening, and it’s much faster than many expected By Philip Hunter What may better be characterised as the collision, not just the convergence of traditional TV and Internet video, is causing discomfort for broadcasters intent upon bringing traditional TV content to personal computers. For example, the BBC ran into flak even before the July launch of its iPlayer service, which was described by BBC director general Mark Thompson as being as momentous as the introduction of colour TV in the 1960s. Contention swirled around the BBC’s decision to use the Microsoft Windows Media 10 (WM10) format to protect downloaded content from being copied and to enforce deletion after 30 days. Although Microsoft itself has become agnostic to codecs and has pledged to support others -- even MPEG-4 -- it is still tightly bound to its own associated DRM. Therefore the BBC download service is only accessible from PCs running Windows XP, shutting out the 25% of its potential audience with GNU/Linux or Apple Mac machines. Some criticised the BBC for running with a DRM at all, given that public sentiment is turning against it; and Apple’s Steve Jobs is hinting that Apple might abandon its DRM. But the BBC had to comply with a labyrinthine web of agreements with content providers, and was also under pressure from its rivals such as ITV and Channel 4, which had just launched their own download services. So instead the BBC has promised to bring Apple and Linux users online as soon as possible by offering an alternative DRM framework within two years. In any case UK broadcasters seem to have realised it makes little sense for them all to have separate download services. The BBC, Channel 4, and ITV are now holding informal discussions to develop a common download portal that would also be open to other broadcasters, and would give access to peer-to-peer content from emerging players such as Joost, Babelgum, and Zattoo. Meanwhile there has also been activity in the opposite direction, to bring Internet content from sites such as YouTube into the walled garden of broadcast TV. Demand does exist for such “Internet 14 IPTV NEWS SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

video” content to be available at higher resolutions, for “lean back” viewing. While no decoding technology can make a silk purse from a sow’s ear, at least a broadcaster can ensure that Internet content is displayed with the maximum resolution possible, which will usually make it look much better than on a PC. Of course if the content is downloaded rather than streamed, the quality is as good as the original encoding anyway, as with the “Amazon Unbox on TiVo” service allowing users to download movies from the Internet directly to their TiVo PVRs and play them on the TV. In that case the Internet is being used as an alternative medium for delivering professional content. As far as making UGC (User Generated Content) available on the TV, there is little point unless quality can be improved substantially in comparison to, say, a window on a laptop computer. On this front, Apple shone a torch for the industry by leveraging its “special relationship” with Google to persuade YouTube to re-encode its entire back-catalogue in the advanced MPEG-4/H.264 codec rather than the usual Flash for its AppleTV service. So even though by its nature YouTube content is highly variable in picture as well as aesthetic quality, at least the encoding will now match the larger screen size, with the potential even to distribute HD video. Although AppleTV is not a conventional TV service, this does herald the kind of deal TV operators will be seeking. ...continued on page 16>>

...continued from page 14>>

Ultimately though convergence will end the distinction between the Internet and TV distribution altogether. The next step towards that is to have a single platform capable of tapping into both sources transparently to the consumer, and this has already been achieved in the UK with a service called Simply Global, aimed primarily at ethnic communities. This involves a partnership between STB maker Complete TV, and Internet TV technology specialist Simply Global TV. The former’s STB has been adapted to integrate Internet content with the over-the-air Freeview channels it was designed for. Customers can now record and pause live TV without being aware whether the content comes from the Internet or over the air.

interest to the whole community have been created by businesses, charities and other organisations. The trial has confirmed that community TV has commercial potential, and that there is enthusiasm for viewing UGC on TVs. This was perhaps not surprising given the boom in UGC over the Internet, as re-affirmed in a recent survey by network infrastructure vendor Juniper Networks. This found that UGC was the most popular form of content downloaded from the Internet, beating news coverage into second place. Drilling down further, recent analysis of YouTube usage suggested a new 90/9/1 rule, that 1% of the online audience

Such developments beg the question as to how the traditional STB makers are squaring up to the challenge of Internet/TV convergence. The ideal unified box would combine tuners, PVR, broadband Internet access, and a wireless router for home networking. While not conceding that such a box is in the offing, Cisco, whose subsidiary Scientific-Atlanta is one of the largest video transmission vendors, has agreed that the traditional STB is quickly fragmenting into a number of devices for accessing video services. It may well be that the Internet does become the universal video delivery platform, for this mirrors the trend towards global consumption of specialist or niche content. This trend is evident in services such as the broadband version of the Africast TV service, delivering 40 channels from 25 African countries to a global African audience. This service is available on subscription for $19.95 a month in the US, using the Neulion iPTV platform to connect TVs to the Internet. Quality has been an issue for such services, because even when Internet access is available at speeds high enough to deliver even HD with advanced encoding, in practice there is no guarantee of consistent end-to-end bandwidth. Such services are therefore dependent on “best effort”, which tends to mean that service quality varies considerably between peak and quiet times. However NeuLion has taken the right approach, re-encoding content in MPEG-4/H.264 irrespective of how it arrives. Currently content is then streamed at around 700 Kbps, which with advanced encoding provides acceptable quality on small screens up to about 20 inches, but the key is that NeuLion can over time scale up the bit rate to match the levels that can be realistically achieved over the Internet. It would be a mistake though to assume that all content will be global, and indeed there is growing momentum behind local community TV. The pioneer on this front, certainly in Europe, was Lommel TV which provides local programming to the eponymous town in Belgium.

This service has been a proving ground for community TV, delivering content uploaded via the Internet to TVs via Alcatel-Lucent’s IPTV solution called My Own TV, based on the firm’s own STB and Microsoft’s Mediaroom middleware (formerly IPTV Edition). As part of the trial, about 100 of Lommel’s 30,000 population have been recruited to create a personal channel, to which they invite friends and family to subscribe. At the same time other channels of 16 IPTV NEWS SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

create content from scratch, 9% edit other people’s content, and the remaining 90% just consume passively. All this is to forget the mobile dimension, but it is unclear yet exactly how this is going to evolve and converge with conventional programming. At present some service providers allow mobiles to set PVRs remotely, while separately accessing selected video services. Over time the mobile will have access to common content, supporting functions such as pause and resume, allowing people to continue watching a programme from a mobile display on the move. This would include laptops in trains and airports providing HD quality pictures, as well as smaller screens more suitable for viewing clips than say full-length movies. Ultimately it is likely that all programming will be delivered over a common network, making the TV service entirely independent of location or device, apart from constraints imposed by local access conditions and by the display type. Naturally such a network, the Internet2, Web 2.0, or whatever it is called, will have to deliver the highest HD specification video. The need for this has been clear to some since at least 1999, when the University of Washington set up the Research Channel consortium to determine methods of transmitting studio-quality HD over a future Internet. A special high speed network was set up to conduct the research, transmitting at up to 200 Mbps, which is currently about the speed at which studio HD video can be transmitted in near lossless form after light compression with JPEG 2000 encoding. While the prospect of using the public Internet for studio quality HD video is still some way off, it could soon be quite capable of delivering HD to the end consumer with advanced encoding.

THE NEW

Or, the reinvention of the phone company as we no longer know it By Alan Weinkrantz, 3Screens.

For the last twenty five years, I’ve run a technology public relations firm serving clients in Israel and the U.S. I help our clients develop their messages and tell their story to the media, industry analysts, and ultimately, to their customers. Most of my clients are technology providers to some of the world’s most important brand names. Even though I am in the thick of new and emerging technology introductions, at heart, I’m still just a consumer in search of the next big new thing. Because I live in San Antonio, Texas, headquarters of the “new” AT&T, I have been fortunate to be a part of a unique experiment in observing one of our country’s most important and historic companies evolve from being a traditional telephone company and into a communications and entertainment services powerhouse that is still in the process of reinventing itself. I speak not from my professional perspective, but rather a real live customer who, in May of 2006, turned into a blogger, documenting his experiences in being a U-verse – and ultimately an AT&T threescreens customer. My initial goal was to simply publicly document my experience in being a three-screens customer and possibly turn it into an independent media property. How the Experiment Began Because I already was taking a mobile

phone service from Cingular Wireless and local phone service from SBC (Southwestern Bell Corporation) all I needed was U-verse and I would be the ideal three-screens customer; since all of them are now AT&T. My 3Screens blogging adventure began when I learned that SBC was getting ready to deploy its new IPTV service, named U-verse. SBC employees living in the right neighborhoods could take part in the initial trials. In addition, SBC was also offering the trial user opportunity to non-SBC employees, so I signed up and it was off to a whole new world of IPTV.

May 2006, the crew came in, disconnected TimeWarner Cable and installed AT&T’s U-verse. At the time, I was told that AT&T didn’t offer HDTV but that I would be getting it sometime that summer. That summer became November and I decided to make a final decision on either staying with AT&T or going back to TimeWarner once HD was in. Because San Antonio was ground zero for the deployment of the first U-verse systems, I became not only an early customer, but an observer of how AT&T was training its ...continued on page installers while they18>> were on the job.

In addition, the New AT&T’s three-screen strategy is their vision to integrate the customer’s experience around the “three screens,” that consumers value most – the TV, the PC and the wireless phone. Living in a Controlled Market Introduction To its credit, AT&T carefully controlled a very limited introduction of U-verse and did it in their own back yard. They also did something that struck me as being very smart: they managed my expectations, told me in advance when there might be service delays or interruptions and gave me the service for free with no obligation to continue unless I was absolutely happy. When it came time to do the installation in

Photo: Alan Weinkrantz. IPTV NEWS SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 17

Photo: Alan Weinkrantz.

...continued from page 17>>

On the first service call, there was a crew of five installers and a management team from California who were observing the installations in anticipation of the rollout in the San Francisco Bay Area. I had a chance to meet new service techs who were recruited to the company from the cable industry, some who were with data communications resellers and of course, some were installers who had started their careers twenty and thirty years ago climbing poles and hanging phone lines. One telling point that always remained in my mind was when the installers or a service technician came to my home, they’d wipe their shoes at the front door, and put on a pair of blue cover-up booties – you know the kind that are often worn in clean rooms. The booties were not only practical, but sent a clear message: this was not the cable guy showing up at your home. The Tipping Point and Decision to Stay With AT&T: HD over IP Really Worked In November of 2006, the real test came and I made the decision to stay with AT&T for my television service. HD over IP really worked. Not only that, there was more HD programming available compared to TimeWarner. I also found the interface to be superior and more computer-like. I immediately noticed the nearly instantaneous channel change, and especially liked the Windows-like interface. Whenever I had friends over to see 18 IPTV NEWS SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

U-verse, I’d simply hand them the remote, and observe how they immediately would “get it.” During the May-through-November time period, I had few service interruptions and when something did happen, I always found the tech support I received over the phone and during the two on-premises service calls to be more than satisfactory. Along the way, I always had the feeling that their phone and onsite technicians were trained in a manner to do whatever it took to make a good impression with the customer for a quality service experience was going to make the difference. I decided to remain an AT&T customer not only because the service worked, but because I thought it was way too early to make a final judgment call. I knew that I was still living in a test bed environment and also saw my blog started to being picked up by major technical and business media such as CNet, ZDNet, Telephony Magazine and The Wall Street Journal. I’ve also had a European telco, several industry analysts, a couple of reporters and even some heavy weight financial analysts paying visits to AT&T CFO make a stop at my home to see what I was doing in a real world environment. This is not the old AT&T From New Jersey There is more to the AT&T story than just television. AT&T is clearly a company that

is going through some disruptive changes. I also believe that, being in San Antonio, rather than in New York or Los Angeles -and with a management team that may not have come from the traditional media world -- has helped to create a new type of media and entertainment services company in its own right. It’s still to early to make a judgment on AT&T. However, my impression from meeting with senior level management, and having had access to employees in San Antonio -- and things you hear on the street in our very small and close knit town -- is that there is a certain will to succeed. AT&T clearly has the technical and financial resources to bring their threescreens strategy to fruition. The challenge remains how to be competitive, scale to serve a potential base of 20,000,000 customers, and deliver an integrated IPbased communications and entertainment experience that is of greater value than other choices. Note: This is the first of several contributions from Alan, as we follow his experiences as an AT&T U-verse Alan Weinkrantz is Publisher and Editor of customer.

3Screens: www.3screens.net, the independent news source and guide covering the AT&T 3-screen experience. He is also the President of Alan Weinkrantz And Company, an international technology public

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Metadata for IPTV: a practical introduction...

Metadata is simply “data about data.” The “Last Name” and “First Name” blanks on your tax form are metadata. It’s the word “Total” at the end of your supermarket receipt, and it’s the amount that you paid. Whether we’re talking about IPTV or Internet video, the use of metadata is fundamental By Rob Kobrin. The fundamental change from broadcast to IPTV can be described as the evolution from signals to data. IPTV delivers video, audio, and even hypermedia as data over broadband IP networks. This media can be reproduced on generic personal computers or on devices optimized for digital media services. Networks also transport telephone calls, email and web pages. IPTV systems on data networks transport both media and related metadata, while broadcast television requires TV-specific transmitters sending signals to TV specific receivers. Radio requires its own transmitters and receivers.

20 IPTV

NEWS AUGUST/SEPTEMBER

What we commonly call media, such as video, audio, stills and graphics, is a bundle of content that contains “essence.” The sequential pictures of a rocket launch captured on 35mm film represent the “essence” of the rocket launch. The essence in the Flash file streaming from YouTube is a transcode of the video transfer of the original film of the rocket launch. Metadata can be about the content of the essence, such as program length, the actor’s names or to identify the spoken language. It can specify technical information about the medium such as the aspect ratio or compression algorithm. Significant business information, such as usage rights, how it was used or the profile of the specific customer using any media can be conveyed as metadata in an IPTV system.

The ability to filter and exchange relevant metadata between systems with very different functionality can create value in the flow of media commerce.

carry essence and its metadata through the distribution process together. Metadata can be extracted from the file when needed, or simply passed along with the file. Additional metadata such as usage rights can be added and the file rewrapped.

The Flow

When data-basing of the media is required, relevant metadata can be extracted from the media file and input to the database automatically. This supports functions such as rapid search and selection of media, or e-commerce transaction engines.

In the traditional entertainment business, much of the content is still managed manually and transported physically. Moving from physical to file-based media while making effective use of metadata is like moving from the postal service to email--and email with attachments.

As with any other commerce, transactions between domains of the media and entertainment industries act as gateways to control the flow of goods and information. Source: Rob Kobrin

Some metadata flows in one direction, such as program information to be included in program guides produced by the service providers. Other metadata, such as digital rights management, is shared between service providers and networks for operational reasons. Technical metadata, such as device configuration, is exchanged between consumers and network providers so that the correct files can be provided.

Metadata Types for IPTV There are at least six basic categories of metadata types common to most IPTV systems. Content description metadata provides information such as title, synopsis, credits or genre commonly used in program guides or search functions. Service types describe the system offerings, such as whether a IPTV service is on demand or streaming, pushed by the operator or pulled by the user, free or subscribed. Usage types regard functions such as licensing and pricing, DVR recording rights, and transcoding of media for use in other devices like iPods. User types identify the individual user and associated data like demographics and viewing behavior. System types provide information about the network and devices in the system, such as bandwidth provided and network interfaces. It also describes presentation capabilities of the user’s system, such as codecs and resolution. Content adaptation metadata can be information like user profiles or geographic data allowing targeted advertising or other interstitial replacement rules. It can also determine media provisioning based on device and network metadata. As of mid-2007, there were over 1800 specific metadata types registered in the SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) Metadata Dictionary. Additionally, XML schemas make it possible to define ad hoc metadata types for specific uses. Even as the IPTV industry is developing, metadata structures are in place to support supply chain operations and integration with enterprise business automation.

Wrapped or Unwrapped? Metadata can exist independently of the media it describes, much as TV Guide Magazine is physically separate from your television. It can also be embedded in the media itself, like a station ID graphic in a program’s picture.

Other commonly used wrapped file formats include Windows Media, Flash Video, the Material eXchange Format (MXF) and the General eXchange Format (GXF).

Complexity, Chaos and Cooperation The traditional broadcast industry makes some specific use of metadata, such as time code hidden in the vertical interval of a video signal. IPTV offers unlimited two-way communication about media and its use. Such complexity breeds confusion and technical conflicts. As in broadcast, numerous groups are working to develop standards and practices for IPTV. The MPEG 7 and MPEG 21 groups of the International Standards Organization (ISO) are focused on metadata for media. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) of the United Nations has a Focus Group on IPTV, which recently published a working document specifically on IPTV metadata. Independent engineering bodies are also setting relevant metadata standards. The SMPTE projects have included the Unique Media Identifier (UMID) and Metadata Dictionary. Standards from the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative have provided connections from media specific to more general metadata use such as business automation. The World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) general work is becoming increasingly important to the media and entertainment industries, with recent development of specific XML schemas for media applications, and the Resource Description Framework (RDF) to support the intelligent processing of media across different functional systems. Industry trade groups drive pragmatic relationships between equipment manufacturers and their users These include the Cable Television Laboratories (CableLabs), the TV-Anytime Forum, the Video Services Forum, and The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS). All are developing specifications and recommended practices for metadata in IPTV product development, system implementation and use by their members. Some may become de facto standards as they are put to use quickly, and some may eventually become official standards through the longer process required for review, revision and approval.

Why Care? While media and entertainment are products sold through IPTV, metadata is what makes it function as a business. Whether it’s information about the artists, about the audience, or the system that connects them, metadata supports the rich service offerings of IPTV and the efficient operation of an information technology based enterprise. Good metadata is good for business. Bad metadata is good for nothing. Rob Kobrin isRob Kobrin is a 25 year veteran of motion picture production. Formerly VP of Product Management at Avid Technology, he consults to the media and entertainment industry. He may be reached at kobrin@ earthlink.net

File formats like Quicktime contain both media essence and its relevant metadata in a digital “wrapper”. Wrapped file formats can IPTV NEWS AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 21

Internet TV

begins to make connections During 2007 the spotlight began to shift progressively away from IPTV services offered by telcos and ISPs to the growing raft of Internet TV and video services delivered by over-the-top (OTT)

A huge amount of activity is taking place in the OTT arena, in which content is delivered via an un-managed broadband pipe, as the UK and US have effectively become test beds for the sector. And the strategies, players and business models now emerging will not only shape the future of this sector, they will have wider repercussions for those providing “walled garden” TV services, including of course the IPTV operators themselves. The sheer range of companies launching over-the-top services is impressive – the specialist aggregators such as Joost and Babelgum are merely the tip of the iceberg. Broadcasters are aggressively using the Internet to provide catch-up TV; content owners are going direct to consumers with their own VoD offerings; and the large Internet portals are evolving into powerful broadband content distribution platforms. These players join existing digital distribution film specialists such as Glowria and Lovefilm, which are adding online delivery to their portfolios; and let’s not forget the retailers, both online and offline – Amazon, Fnac and Walmart have all launched online video services. But unlike the online music business, broadband video is unlikely to be dominated by any one provider because video encompasses such a diverse range of formats from the 20-second user-generated video clip to the 2-hour Hollywood blockbuster. In theory there is room for a number of providers. Nevertheless, the land grab for funding is on, both for the service providers themselves and for those technology companies that enable them. Next will come the scramble for audiences and the search for a solid business model, with advertising being central for many. It is no accident, however, that a number of players are following both retail and wholesale approaches. The likes of Glowria and Sivoo see much of their future in providing services to third party providers, recognising that this may be the path to profits in markets where they lack brand clout. But the most interesting strategy to emerge to date is the tieup between broadband video providers and consumer device manufacturers. Partnerships between the likes of YouTube and Apple TV, CinemaNow and HP, Amazon and Tivo – and others which are appearing on a regular basis -- are bringing to market powerful consumer brand combinations. The short-term marketing advantages are clear. The long-term consequences are highly significant. These arrangements are about getting Internet TV connected and onto the TV screen – the natural home for long form video content. Which brings us back to IPTV services, and the potential threat posed by over-the-top offerings. 22 IPTV NEWS SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

The key advantages IPTV operators (and indeed cable, satellite and terrestrial TV providers) have over Internet TV players are quality, ease of use and the fact their content is delivered directly to the TV set. At present Internet TV and IPTV cater for different consumer segments and requirements. Internet TV is provided on a best efforts basis, whereas IPTV offers consistent, instant high quality content. While the Internet may provide more choice, it takes effort to search and pull content towards you, and there are plenty of consumers ready to receive pre-packaged content (i.e. a walled garden), glad not to have to seek out their viewing experience. Yet these tie-ups have the potential both to reduce the effort involved in searching for a viewing experience, and to display that experience directly on the big screen. This vision will take some time to come but when it does, it increasingly looks like quality will be the IPTV operator’s mainstay. And while quality counts, the latter would do well to keep one step ahead on convenience, functionality, accessibility and of course content. As Senior Analyst and Service Manager at Ovum, Annelise Berendt manages Ovum’s broadband content research programme, and specialises in the IPTV and Internet TV sectors.

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