How do you expect distribution of IPTV will grow in the coming years?
IPTV deployment is determined by the unique market forces shaping each individual territory. The uptake of the technology has been rapid in Spain and France for instance, but is more niche in the UK. We anticipate that the difference between markets will be slightly bi-polar. Looking at the bigger picture, the important point is that all delivery platforms are adopting IP management layers. Cable is upgrading to Switched Digital Video, which makes it very similar to IPTV in terms of delivering a more personalised service. Even satellite is moving towards using the Ethernet connection in the set-top box to further improve its offer to viewers. We’re heading towards a near future where IP will govern most TV delivery. From Packet Vision’s perspective, even in territories where the future outlook for IPTV is relatively modest, such as the UK, the technology provides a useful learning ground for broadcasters and advertisers to prepare for opportunities that will be widely available very soon.

What is driving the rapid development in the technology and the market?
The main reason is the marketing approach. The triple-play proposition clearly makes sense, and where television has been offered at heavily discounted prices – essentially as a tool by service operators to combat churn – consumers have been happy to take advantage of the available offers. In France a typical monthly service costs €30 of which IPTV accounts for only €5. TeliaSonera in Sweden has been offering IPTV for free for the first twelve months as part of a triple-play bundle.

What will be the compelling feature of IPTV for consumers, and will cost be an over-riding issue?
Cost certainly ranks near the top of the list for consumers, but operators are keen to avoid commoditisation. Catch-up VoD services are extremely powerful when delivered over IPTV networks, and operators will continue to work on such features developing a more dynamic and personalised service for viewers in order to differentiate as much as possible.

What revenue streams will be developed, and how - if at all - will this impact on conventional commercial television?
New revenue streams will be generated through the continued personalisation of television. Whether or not VoD will prove itself a significant new stream remains to be seen, but personalisation - the increasingly 1-2-1 relationship that IPTV makes possible - is where the most value is to be had. Packet Vision is doing exactly that with advertising. We enable targeted addressable advertising on the basis of lifestyle or location for linear broadcast television channels over IPTV. Advertisers can send different commercial messages to different audiences simultaneously during the same ad spot. The technology brings a new level of refinement to television advertising, but it operates within the existing commercial break structure. The most promising revenue streams are those that augment or support conventional commercial TV. There’s a strong argument to the effect that catch-up TV should be seen as an adjunct to traditional linear TV. The experience is essentially the same, but there’s a new layer of flexibility woven in.

Will the boundaries between Internet TV and IPTV blur or merge, or will they remain essentially separate?
The boundaries are already beginning to blur. The BBC iPlayer is now integrated into the Virgin TV EPG for example. NBC Universal and Newscorp have launched Hulu to offer online video of TV shows the morning after they air in the US. And Project Kangaroo, or SeeSaw as it’s now called - a collaboration between the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 - looks equally as promising. The age-old adage about content as king still holds true. Viewers will go wherever good content can be found. But with all of the excitement surrounding new delivery platforms we are in danger of overlooking the main reason people watch TV - which is to relax. As soon as the technology allows viewers to use the various catch up Internet services via their television in the living room they will put their laptops to one side.

How will IPTV change viewing habits?
IPTV will improve the viewer experience by delivering more viewer choice, greater personalisation and more flexibility through the continued improvements in catch-up and rewind services. But television will remain a sit-back medium, and there will always be space for quality appointment to view television. The popularity of programmes such as Pop Idol and The Apprentice demonstrates how much people value sharing television as part of their day to day life. Certainly there is a shift in viewer behaviour. Catch-up television has been adopted very swiftly - BBC iPlayer reached 75 million online downloads in May 2008 – but it does seem that the more choice and flexibility that television provides, the more people enjoy watching television.

How will IPTV and Mobile TV co-exist and complement each other?
There’s a lot of work to be done before we can really begin to understand the answer to that question, but obviously the viewer experience is central. Shorter form content would seem to sit more easily on the mobile screen, but it’s also easy to imagine the fan of a long-running series unable to catch the latest episode at home, downloading it to their mobile phone to watch on the train journey into work. Content and context will determine viewer habits, but the technology needs to be capable of supporting those habits. It needs to be user-friendly and capable of personalisation providing viewers with a single customisable EPG that runs across TV, mobile, PC and any other mainstream device.

How will the widespread uptake of IPTV services affect today’s broadcasters?
The most significant element of IPTV is the IP management layer. It brings the functionality of the Internet to the television, and it is a real opportunity for broadcasters, enabling them to connect with their audiences in a way that hasn’t been possible before. As an advertising-funded media this new functionality will help augment and improve ad revenues. I think IPTV will help broadcasters learn valuable lessons as they seek sustainable business models to carry their content across new and emerging video platforms.