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NEWS:
Teracue IPTV
encoder &
decoder at the
Olympic Games
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TERACUE
AG supplied Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk with the ENC-200
H.264 encoder and the DEC-200 H.264 decoder for the
Olympic Winter Games 2010 in Vancouver. The ready-to-broadcast
signal, which goes to ARD and/or ZDF is encoded with
the ENC-200 into a compressed H.264 format and is streamed
via an IP network into hotels in Vancouver to be distributed
and decoded again there. This gives the editorial teams
on site the chance to follow the Olympic Games in hotels
where normally the ARD and ZDF signals are not available.
The decision to use the Teracue H.264 encoders/decoders
in Vancouver was made due to the ENC/DEC-200 devices
being very simple to operate using a web browser, the
excellent picture quality with a low broadband bandwith,
low latency as well as this product’s exceptional
reliability. The ENC/DEC-200 range was developed specifically
for live streaming applications in which camera signals,
DVD players or internal TV channels are transmitted
live into the intranet or Internet. The H.264 video
encoder/decoder ENC / DEC-200 supports the real-time
compression of video and audio formats.
www.teracue.com
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Contact
BPL
Business Media Ltd
3rd Floor
Armstrong House
38 Market Square
Uxbridge
Middlesex
UB8 1LH
+44 (0) 1895 454411
sales@ibeweb.com
www.ibeweb.com
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MESSAGE
FROM THE EDITOR...
|
 WELCOME
to this edition of ‘IPTV in Focus’ – IBE’s
electronic newsletter covering developments in the global
IPTV arena. This issue has, at its core, three outstanding
articles contributed by leading experts from the IPTV
sector: A Viewpoint entitled ‘Securing
the highway to hybrid’ - Phil Cardy, product
marketing director at Latens, says that conditional access
can play its part in the burgeoning hybrid IPTV networks.
A Technical Focus entitled ‘Enhancing
live events with IPTV’ - Colin Farquhar, CEO
of Exterity, examines how organisers of large events are
re-thinking the way they use technology to deliver an
enhanced experience for attendees. A Viewpoint entitled
‘IPTV:
Finding the right fit’ – by Rei Brockett,
vice president of marketing and product management at
GoBackTV, Inc.
 In
her Viewpoint piece, Rei Brockett looks at how IPTV models
have evolved. She said: “IPTV is so much more than
broadcast television delivered in IP packets. It’s
more than the ubiquitous ‘what you want, when you
want’ slogans. IPTV is all about taking advantage
of the implicit existence of a two-way network to deliver
the services an operator needs at the various points within
his network in a flexible, scalable manner that suits
that operator’s unique set of circumstances. With
the proper implementation, ‘IPTV’ means that
the operator is freed to add, expand, change, and combine
the services, vendors, equipment, and transport mechanisms
that best meet his current and future needs.”
She
continued: “GoBackTV was founded with the idea that
IP could revolutionise television in the same way that
the Internet revolutionised data networking, making personal
TV economically feasible. No single company is big enough
to be best-in-breed in every aspect of delivering television
to the viewer; forging partnerships between ecosystem
components, and integrating with existing services, is
critical to IPTV. GoBackTV’s RetroVue System focuses
on providing modular components that work standalone or
in combination to deliver real-time and time-shifted video
services over cable (both IPTV and RF), copper, and fiber.”
The
news section details a number of acquisitions and strategic
partnerships being formed as companies jostle for position
in this rapidly-developing market. Finally, a gentle reminder
that bookings into this year’s IPTV Zone @ IBC2010
are already well underway. To ensure that you are part
of the IPTV Zone’s phenomenal success, please contact
Clare Sturzaker on +44 1342 717459 or Email: csturzaker@bpl-business.com.
Details of the IPTV Zone @ IBC2010 can also be found at
www.ibeweb.com.
Enjoy
this issue of IPTV in Focus – it will ensure that
you are fully up to date with the latest news impacting
the IPTV market.
Neil Nixon,
Editor of IBE and IPTV in Focus |
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VIMPELCOM
PLANS IPTV EXPANSION
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| In
a recent interview with IPTV News, the official
publication of the IPTV World Forum, Andrey Kholodny,
head of VAS department within residential marketing
at Russian telco VimpelCom, which operates the IPTV
service 'Beeline TV', tells how Vimpelcom definitely
plans to launch IPTV in other cities this year. |
Vimplecom
launched Beeline TV in St. Petersburg on 15 December last
year, and having already achieved good sales, plans to
launch IPTV in other cities this year.
Vimplecom’s high-definition offer will be available
in the next few months as well as its new IP-enabled services
and features, which include updates on currency rates,
traffic jams, and weather outlooks as well as an interactive
quiz service amongst others. Kholodny said: “Customers
whose IPTV set-top boxes have time-shifting enabled are
using this feature more and more: two years ago, around
20% of eligible customers were using this feature, whereas
now it is around 75% of eligible customers. Customers
really seem to be starting to understand the advanced
features of our product, and many new customers are signing
up for the service as a result of positive recommendations
from existing customers.”
Valuable
lessons
Asked whether any specific markets represented at the
IPTV World Forum may offer valuable lessons for developing
IPTV in Russia, Kholodny said: “I think the Greek
IPTV market is in many ways similar to the Russian market
- in both countries, the major market share is taken by
cable operators and free-to-air platforms, and consumers
don't understand why they should pay for a TV service.
Also, sports events are commonly free-to-air in both countries,
and IPTV services are only just beginning to establish
themselves in both markets.”
Kholodnyy
will be delivering a presentation entitled 'Delivering
the manageable home TV service' on day 3 (25 March) of
the IPTV World Forum, addressing the trend of TV viewers
churning to the Internet, how to provide time-shifting
services, how to promote VOD, and how to enhance service
usability and utilise content recommendation engines.
When interviewed by IPTV News, Peter Hill, vice president
of video and converged services at AT&T Labs, and
also speaking at the IPTV World Forum in March, similarly
explained why AT&T is very focused on continuing to
increase its IPTV service offering, including launching
3DTV services. AT&T plans to make its U-verse service
even better with new enhancements and to add more innovative
features and applications. AT&T’s focus will
be on continuing to enhance the overall U-verse TV experience
with more integration.
Enhanced
access to information
Whole Home DVR and the ability to simultaneously record
four programmes at the same time enable AT&T customers
to have the content they want on the TV they want it on.
Hill said: “With special apps for major content events
like the Masters or the Olympic Games we have shown how
apps can enhance peoples access to the information and
content that they’re looking for, and how you can
extend content and the IPTV experience to mobile devices
and PCs. We’re very interested in 3D TV technologies,
and we’re actively researching and testing these
technologies in our labs today. We don’t have any
specific road map plans to announce today, but we’re
very excited about the possibilities for 3D TV in an IPTV
environment.”
Hill predicts that interactive platforms will become more
and more desirable moving forward, compared with linear
ones. Hill will be delivering a keynote presentation on
day 2 (24 March) of the IPTV World Forum.
www.iptv-forum.com |
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EXTERITY
LAUNCHES CHANNEL
PARTNER PROGRAMME
|
 EXTERITY
has announced the launch of the Exterity StreamForce Channel
Programme to help systems integrators and value-added
resellers take advantage of the rapidly growing demand
for Building IPTV solutions. The programme is specifically
designed to assist Exterity’s channel partners in
the development of IPTV systems, increase sales and provide
service support. The programme comprises three levels,
based on partner sales volume as well as both depth and
breadth of technical and sales expertise:
•
Exterity Platinum Partner: for partners that exhibit the
highest level of solutions and systems integration capabilities
and either specialise in IPTV or possess a sizable IPTV
practice. Partners that qualify for Platinum status enjoy
the highest profit margin, as well as a dedicated sales
manager, partner portal access, project registration and
bid support. Platinum partners are also able to take advantage
of marketing support, technical support, lead distribution
and training programmes.
•
Exterity Premier Partner: forming a major focus of the
Exterity StreamForce Channel Programme, the fundamental
training goal is to enable every partner to reach this
level of IP/AV expertise and sales volume. Along with
an enhanced profit margin, Premier Partners are assigned
a sales manager to assist distributor sales support, partner
portal access and marketing support. Premier Partners
are also able to take advantage of direct technical support,
lead distribution and training programmes.
• Exterity
Accredited Partner: partners may start out with only a
single Building IPTV project, but with the backing of
Exterity and their distributor, will quickly gain the
IP and AV expertise, both sales and technical, they need
to build a thriving IPTV business. All Accredited Partners
have access to training designed to get them to Premier
status, as well as sales & technical support from
the distributor and marketing support from Exterity.
“Organisations in business, government, hospitality
and education are increasingly looking for innovative
IPTV solutions that leverage their existing building,
campus or metropolitan-area networks to improve staff
productivity, enhance the customer experience and drive
new revenue streams,” said Colin Farquhar, CEO of
Exterity. “This is creating tremendous revenue opportunities
for the channel as organisations look to systems integrators
and value-added resellers for the expertise they need
to realise their IPTV goals. The launch of the Exterity
StreamForce Channel Programme will enable our partners
to deploy market-leading Building IPTV solutions that
are easy to integrate, easy to manage, and deliver a quick
return on investment for their customers. The programme
will also provide industry-leading technical, sales, and
training resources to ensure that our channel partners
are able to maximise their revenue streams from Building
IPTV and sell-in additional services to their customers.”
www.exterity.com
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Media
Pack
For advertisers in IBE magazine,
eNews bulletins and on our website, a media pack
is available to download. This provides all information
specifying advertising opportunities and mechanicals
for the magazine as well as for our eNews and web
site. This one convenient document also includes
details of the latest magazine readership audit
by the BPA together with the magazine content features
list. Download
Media Pack |
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The
leading e-zine for the IPTV industry 
THE
demand for IPTV has shown explosive growth over the last
12 months. Recent research by MRG Inc predicts that the
number of IPTV subscribers worldwide will continue to
grow at 31% per year to reach 83 million by 2013, creating
a $38 billion marketplace for services alone. This revolution
in the delivery of broadcast content is creating vast
opportunities for application developers, content providers
and technology companies alike. The IBC2010 IPTV Zone
will bring together many organisations and technologies
emerging as major forces in this new market and provide
the opportunity for them to showcase their capabilities
at the heart of the broadcast industry's leading international
conference and exhibition.