Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is a system through which internet television Internet television is television service distributed via the Internet. It has become very popular during the 21st century with services such as Hulu and Revision 3 in the United States, Nederland 24 in the Netherlands, ABC iView in Australia, and SeeSaw, BBC iPlayer, 4od, ITV Player and Demand Five in the United Kingdom services are delivered using the architecture and networking methods of the Internet Protocol Suite The Internet Protocol Suite is the set of communications protocols used for the Internet and other similar networks. It is named from two of the most important protocols in it: the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP), which were the first two networking protocols defined in this standard. Today's IP networking over a packet-switched network infrastructure, e.g., the Internet The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet Protocol Suite to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope that are linked by a broad array of electronic and and broadband The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal. Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times Internet access networks, instead of being delivered through traditional radio frequency Radio frequency is a rate of oscillation in the range of about 30 kHz to 300 GHz, which corresponds to the frequency of electrical signals normally used to produce and detect radio waves. RF usually refers to electrical rather than mechanical oscillations, although mechanical RF systems do exist (see mechanical filter and RF MEMS) broadcast, satellite In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavor. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon signal, and cable television Cable television is a system of providing television to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through fixed optical fibers or coaxial cables as opposed to the over-the-air method used in traditional television broadcasting in which a television antenna is required. FM radio programming, high-speed Internet, telephony, (CATV) formats.

IPTV services may be classified into three main groups: live television, time-shifted programming, and video on demand Video on Demand or Audio Video on Demand (AVOD) are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand. IPTV technology is often used to bring video on demand to televisions and pcs. It is distinguished from general Internet-based or web-based multimedia services by its on-going standardization process (e.g., European Telecommunications Standards Institute The European Telecommunications Standards Institute is an independent, non-profit, standardization organization in the telecommunications industry (equipment makers and network operators) in Europe, with worldwide projection. ETSI has been successful in standardizing the GSM cell phone system and the TETRA professional mobile radio system) and preferential deployment scenarios in subscriber-based telecommunications networks with high-speed access channels into end-user premises via set-top boxes A set-top box or set-top unit (STU) is a device that connects to a television and an external source of signal, turning the signal into content which is then displayed on the television screen or other display device or other customer-premises equipment Customer-premises equipment or customer-provided equipment is any terminal and associated equipment located at a subscriber's premises and connected with a carrier's telecommunication channel(s) at the demarcation point ("demarc"). The demarc is a point established in a building or complex to separate customer equipment from telephone.

Definition

Historically, many different definitions of IPTV have appeared, including elementary streams over IP networks, transport streams over IP networks and a number of proprietary systems. Although (in Mid 2007) it is premature to say that there is a full consensus of exactly what IPTV should mean.

One definition for consumer IPTV is for single or multiple program transport streams (MPTS) which are sourced by the same network operator that owns or directly controls the "last mile" to the consumer's premises^{[citation needed]}. This control over delivery enables a guaranteed quality of service In the field of computer networking and other packet-switched telecommunication networks, the traffic engineering term quality of service refers to resource reservation control mechanisms rather than the achieved service quality. Quality of service is the ability to provide different priority to different applications, users, or data flows, or to (QoS), and also allows the service provider to offer an enhanced user experience such as better program guide, interactive services etc.

In commercial environments IPTV is widely deployed for distribution of live TV, video playout channels and Video on Demand Video on Demand or Audio Video on Demand (AVOD) are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand. IPTV technology is often used to bring video on demand to televisions and pcs (VOD) material across LAN A local area network is a computer network covering a small physical area, like a home, office, or small groups of buildings, such as a school, or an airport. The defining characteristics of LANs, in contrast to wide area networks (WANs), include their usually higher data-transfer rates, smaller geographic area, and lack of a need for leased or WAN A wide area network is a computer network that covers a broad area (i.e., any network whose communications links cross metropolitan, regional, or national boundaries ). This is in contrast with personal area networks (PANs), local area networks (LANs), campus area networks (CANs), or metropolitan area networks (MANs) which are usually limited to a IP network infrastructures, with a controlled QoS.

The official definition approved by the International Telecommunication Union focus group on IPTV (ITU-T FG IPTV) is as follows: "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 and experience, security, interactivity and reliability." ^[1]

Another official and more detailed definition of IPTV is the one given by ATIS The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions is a standardization organization that develops technical and operational standards for the communications industry. ATIS' offices are located in Washington, D.C. in the US IPTV Exploratory Group (ATIS is a member organization of ITU-T) an year before (2005): "IPTV is defined as the secure and reliable delivery to subscribers of entertainment video and related services. These services may include, for example, Live TV, Video On Demand (VOD) and Interactive TV (iTV). These services are delivered across an access agnostic, packet switched network that employs the IP protocol to transport the audio, video and control signals. In contrast to video over the public Internet, with IPTV deployments, network security and performance are tightly managed to ensure a superior entertainment experience, resulting in a compelling business environment for content providers, advertisers and customers alike."^[2]

History

In 1994, ABC The American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948. Corporate headquarters are in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, while programming's World News Now was the first television show A television program or television show is a segment of content broadcast on television. It may be a one-off broadcast or part of a periodically recurring television series to be broadcast over the Internet, using the CU-SeeMe CU-SeeMe is an Internet videoconferencing client. CU-SeeMe can make point to point video calls without a server or make multi-point calls through server software first called a "reflector" and later called a "conference server" or Multipoint Control Unit (MCU). Later commercial versions of CU-SeeMe could also make point-to- videoconferencing A videoconference or video conference is a set of interactive telecommunication technologies which allow two or more locations to interact via two-way video and audio transmissions simultaneously. It has also been called 'visual collaboration' and is a type of groupware software.^[3]

The term IPTV first appeared in 1995 with the founding of Precept Software by Judith Estrin Judith "Judy" L. Estrin is an American business executive. She is currently the Chief Executive Officer of JLabs LLC (formerly called Packet Design Management Company, LLC), through which she pursues a broad range of advisory activities including sitting on corporate and advisory boards and speaking engagements. Judy is the author of and Bill Carrico. Precept designed and built an Internet video product named IP/TV. IP/TV was an MBONE compatible Windows and Unix-based application that moved single and multi-source audio/video traffic, ranging from low to DVD quality, using both unicast In computer networking, unicast transmission is the sending of messages to a single network destination host on a packet switching network and IP multicast IP multicast is a method of sending Internet Protocol datagrams to a group of interested receivers in a single transmission. It is often employed for streaming media applications on the Internet and private networks. The method is the IP-specific version of the general concept of multicast networking. It uses specially reserved multicast address Real-time Transport Protocol The Real-time Transport Protocol defines a standardized packet format for delivering audio and video over the Internet. It was developed by the Audio-Video Transport Working Group of the IETF and first published in 1996 as RFC 1889, and superseded by RFC 3550 in 2003 (RTP) and Real time control protocol (RTCP). The software was written primarily by Steve Casner, Karl Auerbach Karl Auerbach is a California attorney and internet protocol engineer who in 2002 sued the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)—of which he was an elected board member—for refusing to share corporate records. ICANN controls the assignment of domain names and IP addresses, and Cha Chee Kuan. Precept was acquired by Cisco Systems in 1998.^[4] Cisco retains the IP/TV trademark.

Internet radio Internet radio is an audio service transmitted via the Internet. Music streaming on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted broadly through wireless means company AudioNet Broadcast.com was a web radio company founded as "AudioNet" in September 1995 by Chris Jaeb. Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban later led the organization to hugely capitalize on the Dot-com bubble and be sold to Yahoo.com started the first continuous live Live television refers to television broadcast in real time. Today it is used mostly for programs such as Today, CBS This Morning, and local television news. However, from the early days of television until about 1958, it was used heavily, except for filmed shows such as I Love Lucy and Gunsmoke. Videotape did not exist until 1957 webcasts A webcast is a media file distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand. Essentially, webcasting is “broadcasting” over the Internet with content from WFAA-TV WFAA is an ABC television station affiliate serving the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex, one of the top ten media markets in North America. The station is the flagship of Belo Corporation and the largest ABC affiliate not owned and operated by the network. It is also the largest affiliate of any of the "big four" networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, in January, 1998 and KCTU-LP on January 10, 1998.^[5]

Kingston Communications KCOM Group is a UK communications and IT services provider. It is headquartered in Kingston upon Hull, where subsidiary business unit Kingston Communications serves local residents and businesses with Internet and telephony services. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, a regional telecommunications operator in UK, launched KIT (Kingston Interactive Television), an IPTV over DSL Digital Subscriber Line is a family of technologies that provides digital data transmission over the wires of a local telephone network. DSL originally stood for digital subscriber loop. In telecommunications marketing, the term Digital Subscriber Line is widely understood to mean Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL), the most commonly broadband interactive TV service in September 1999 after conducting various TV and VoD Video on Demand or Audio Video on Demand (AVOD) are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand. IPTV technology is often used to bring video on demand to televisions and pcs trials. The operator added additional VoD Video on Demand or Audio Video on Demand (AVOD) are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand. IPTV technology is often used to bring video on demand to televisions and pcs service in October 2001 with Yes TV, a VoD content provider. Kingston was one of the first companies in the world to introduce IPTV and IP VoD Video on Demand or Audio Video on Demand (AVOD) are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand. IPTV technology is often used to bring video on demand to televisions and pcs over ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line is one form of the Digital Subscriber Line technology, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over copper telephone lines than a conventional voiceband modem can provide. It does this by utilizing frequencies that are not used by a voice telephone call. A splitter, or DSL filter,. ^[6]

In 2002, Sasktel Saskatchewan Telecommunications is a provincial Crown Corporation operating under the authority of the Saskatchewan Telecommunications Act. It is the only remaining Crown Corporation in the Canadian telecommunications industry was the first to commercially deploy Internet Protocol (IP) video over digital subscriber line (DSL) using the Lucent Stinger(R) DSL platform.^[7] In 2006, it was the first North American company to offer HDTV High-definition television refers to video having resolution substantially higher than traditional television systems (standard-definition TV, or SDTV, or SD). HD has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD. Early HDTV broadcasting used analog techniques, but today HDTV is digitally broadcast using video compression channels over an IPTV service^[8]

In 2003, Total Access Networks Inc launched its IPTV service, comprising of 100 free IPTV stations world wide. The service has been used in over 100 countries world wide, and has channels in 26 languages.^{[citation needed]}

In 2005, Bredbandsbolaget launched its IPTV service as the first service provider in Sweden Sweden (pronounced /ˈswiːdən/ SWEE-dən, Swedish: Sverige [ˈsvær.jə]), officially the Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: Konungariket Sverige (help·info)), is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and water borders with Denmark, Germany and. As of January 2009, they are not the biggest supplier any longer; TeliaSonera TeliaSonera AB is the dominant telephone company and mobile network operator in Sweden and Finland. The company has operations in other countries in Northern, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Spain, with a total of 150 million mobile customers . It is headquartered in Stockholm and its stocks are traded on the Stockholm Stock Exchange and on the who launched their service later has now more customers.^[9]

In 2006, AT&T AT&T Inc. is the largest provider of fixed telephony in the United States, and also provides broadband and subscription television services. AT&T is the second largest provider of mobile telephony service in the United States, with over 85.1 million wireless customers, and more than 210 million total customers launched its U-Verse AT&T U-verse is a VDSL service offered by AT&T in various parts of the United States. It provides broadband internet access, TV, and phone through a fiber-to-the-node communications network IPTV service in the United States ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language, comprising a national head end and regional video-serving offices. AT&T offered over 300 channels in 11 cities with more to be added in 2007 and beyond. In March 2009, AT&T announced that U-verse had expanded to 100 or more High Definition channels in every U-Verse TV market.^[10] While using IP protocols, AT&T has built a private IP network exclusively for video transport.

Future

In the past, this technology has been restricted by low broadband penetration and by the relatively high cost of installing wiring capable of transporting IPTV content reliably in the customer's home. In the coming years, however, residential IPTV is expected to grow at a brisk pace as broadband was available to more than 200 million households worldwide in the year 2005, projected to grow to 400 million by the year 2010.^[11] Many of the world's major telecommunications providers are exploring IPTV as a new revenue opportunity from their existing markets and as a defensive measure against encroachment from more conventional Cable Television services.

Also, there is a growing number of IPTV installations within schools, universities, corporations and local institutions.^[12]

In December 2009, the FCC began looking into using set-top boxes to make TVs with cable or similar services into broadband The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal. Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times video players. FCC Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake had said earlier that TV and the Internet would soon be the same, but only 75 percent of homes had computers, while 99 percent had TV. A Nielsen The Nielsen Company is an American marketing and advertising research company headquartered in New York, NY. Nielsen is active in over 100 countries, and employs some 36,000 people worldwide. Total revenues amounted to $5.0 billion in 2008 survey said 99 percent of video viewing was done on TV.^[13]

Markets

The number of global IPTV subscribers is expected to grow from 28 million in 2009 to 83 million in 2013. Europe and Asia are the leading territories in terms of the over-all number of subscriber. But in terms of service revenues, Europe and North America generate a larger share of global revenue, due to very low average revenue per user (ARPU) in China and India, the fastest growing (and ultimately, the biggest markets) in Asia. The global IPTV market revenues are forecasted to grow from US$12 billion in 2009 to US$38 billion in 2013.^[14]

While all major western countries and most developed economies have IPTV deployments, the world's leading markets for IPTV for now are Germany A region named Germania, inhabited by several Germanic peoples, has been known and documented before AD 100. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire, which lasted until 1806. During the 16th century, northern Germany became the centre of the Protestant Reformation. As a modern nation-state, (by Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG is a telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is the largest telecommunications company in Europe) France France (pronounced /ˈfrænts/ frantss or /ˈfrɑːnts/ frahnts; French pronunciation (help·info): [fʁɑ̃s]), officially the French Republic (French: République française, pronounced: [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a state in Western Europe with several of its overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, (led by Free, then Orange Orange is the brand used by France Télécom for its mobile network operator and Internet service provider subsidiaries. The brand was created in 1994 for Hutchison Telecom's UK mobile phone network, which was acquired by France Télécom in August 2000. In 2006, the company's ISP operations, previously Wanadoo, were also rebranded Orange. Orange, then Neuf Cegetel; total of over 4 million subscriptions), South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (Korean: 대한민국, pronounced [tɛːhanminɡuk̚] ( listen)), is a country in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by China to the west, Japan to the east, and North Korea to the north. Its capital is Seoul. South Korea lies in a temperate climate (1.8 million subscriptions), United States (by AT&T), Hong Kong, Japan, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, China, Singapore, Taiwan, Switzerland and Portugal (with meo, Optimus Clix and Vodafone Casa). Services have also launched in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia,^[15] the Netherlands,^[16] Greece, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Slovakia, Hungary,^[17][18] Norway, Sweden and Iceland. The United Kingdom launched IPTV early and after a slow initial growth, in February 2009 BT announced that it had reached 398,000 subscribers to its BT Vision service.^[19] Claro has launched their own IPTV service called "Claro TV". This service is available in several countries in which they operate, such as Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua. IPTV is just beginning to grow in Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America, and now it is growing in South Asian countries such as Sri Lanka, Pakistan and especially India.^[20] but significant plans exist in countries such as Russia. Kazakhstan introduced^[21] its own IPTV services by the national provider Kazakhtelecom JSC^[22] and cable-operator Alacast under the "iD TV" brand in two major cities Astana and Almaty in 2009 and is about to go nationwide starting 2010.

The first IPTV service to launch on the Chinese mainland sells under the "BesTV" brand and is currently available in the cities of Shanghai and Harbin.^[23] In India IPTV was launched by Airtel and the government service provider MTNL and BSNL and is available in most of the major cities of the country . In Pakistan IPTV was launched by PTCL, brand name Smart TV which is available in most of the major cities of Pakistan.

In Malaysia, various companies have attempted to launch IPTV services since 2005. Failed PayTV provider MiTV attempted to use a IPTV-over-UHF service but the service failed to take off. Hypp.TV was supposed to use an IPTV-based system, but is not true IPTV as it does not provide a set top box and requires users to view channels using a computer. True IPTV providers available in the country at the moment are Fine TV and DETV. Telekom Malaysia is also coming up with a true IPTV service, but at the moment the service is in testing and it will only be made available to High Speed Broadband subscribers.

Discussion of IPTV

A telco IPTV service is usually delivered over a investment heavy walled garden network, which is carefully engineered to ensure bandwidth efficient delivery of vast amounts of multicast video traffic. The higher network quality also enables easy delivery of high quality SD or HD TV content to subscribers’ homes. This makes IPTV by default the preferred delivery platform for premium content. However, the investment for a telco to build an end-to-end telco IPTV service can be substantial.^{[original research?]}

Broadcast IPTV has two major architecture forms: free and fee based. As of June 2006, there are over 1,300 free IPTV sources available.^[24] This sector is growing rapidly and major television broadcasters worldwide are transmitting their broadcast signal over the Internet. These free IPTV sources require only an Internet connection and an Internet enabled device such as a personal computer, HDTV connected to a computer or even a 3G cell/mobile phone to watch the IPTV content. Various Web portals offer access to these free IPTV sources. Some cite the ad-sponsored availability of TV series such as Lost as indicators that IPTV will become more prevalent.

Because IPTV uses standard networking protocols, it promises lower costs for operators and lower prices for users. Using set-top-boxes with broadband Internet connections, video can be streamed to households more efficiently than current coaxial cable. Home networks currently use technology from the Multimedia over Coax Alliance, HomePlug Powerline Alliance or Home Phoneline Networking Alliance to deliver IPTV content to any set-top-box in a home, without having to install new Ethernet wires and without relying on technologies like 802.11, which are not optimized for reliable delivery of video streams. ISPs are upgrading their networks to bring higher speeds and to allow multiple High Definition TV channels.

IPTV uses a two-way digital broadcast signal sent through a switched telephone or cable network by way of a broadband connection and a set-top-box programmed with software (much like a cable or DSS box) that can handle viewer requests to access to many available media sources.

Local IPTV, as used by businesses for audio visual AV distribution on their company networks is typically based on a mixture of:

1. Conventional TV reception equipment and IPTV encoders
2. IPTV Gateways that take broadcast MPEG channels and IP wrap them to create multicast streams.

Architecture of IPTV

Architecture of a Video Server Network

Depending on the network architecture of the service provider, there are two main types of video server architectures that can be considered for IPTV deployment, centralized, and distributed.

The centralized architecture model is a relatively simple and easy to manage solution. For example, as all contents are stored in centralized servers, it does not require a comprehensive content distribution system. Centralized architecture is generally good for a network that provides relatively small VOD service deployment, has adequate core and edge bandwidth and has an efficient content delivery network (CDN).

Distributed architecture is just as scalable as the centralized model, however it has bandwidth usage advantages and inherent system management features that are essential for managing a larger server network. Operators who plan to deploy a relatively large system should therefore consider implementing a Distributed Architecture model right from the start. Distributed architecture requires intelligent and sophisticated content distribution technologies to augment effective delivery of multimedia contents over service provider's network.^[25]

Home Networks for IPTV distribution

In many cases, the Residential Gateway that provides connectivity with the Broadband Access network is not located in close proximity to the IPTV Set-Top Box. This scenario becomes very common as service providers start to offer service packages with multiple Set-Top Boxes per subscriber.

Traditional home networking technologies such as Ethernet and 802.11 do not provide a good solution to provide connectivity between the Gateway and each Set-Top-Box. Most homes today are not wired with Ethernet cable in every room, and installing new Ethernet cables is expensive for service providers and undesirable for consumers. Wireless technologies like 802.11 are optimized for data transmission, but they usually don't provide the Quality of Service required by IPTV applications.

Networking technologies that take advantage of existing home wiring (such as power lines,^[26][27] phone lines or coaxial cables^[28][29]) have become a popular solution for this problem, although fragmentation in the wired home networking market has limited somewhat the growth in this market.^[30][31]

On December 2008, ITU-T adopted Recommendation G.hn (also known as G.9960), which is a next generation home networking standard that specifies a common PHY/MAC that can operate over any home wiring (power lines, phone lines or coaxial cables).^[32]

IMS architecture for IPTV

There is a growing standardization effort on the use of the 3GPP IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) as an architecture for supporting IPTV services in carriers networks. Both ITU-T and ETSI are working on so-called "IMS-based IPTV" standards (see e.g. ETSI TS 182 027^[33]). The benefits of this approach are obvious. Carriers will be able to offer both voice and IPTV services over the same core infrastructure and the implementation of services combining conventional TV services with telephony features (e.g. caller ID on the TV screen) will become straigthforward.^[34] The MultiService Forum recently conducted interoperability of IMS-based IPTV solutions during its GMI event in 2008.^[35]

Protocols

IPTV covers both live TV (multicasting) as well as stored video (Video-on-Demand, or VoD). The playback of IPTV requires either a personal computer or a set-top-box connected to a TV. Video content is typically compressed using either a MPEG-2 or a MPEG-4 codec and then sent in an MPEG transport stream delivered via IP Multicast in case of live TV or via IP Unicast in case of video on demand. IP multicast is a method in which information can be sent to multiple computers at the same time. H.264 (MPEG-4) codec is increasingly used to replace the older MPEG-2 codec.

In standards-based IPTV systems, the primary underlying protocols used are:

• Live TV uses IGMP version 2 or IGMP version 3 for IPv4 for connecting to a multicast stream (TV channel) and for changing from one multicast stream to another (TV channel change).

• VOD is using the Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP).

• NPVR (network-based personal video recorder) is also using the Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP).

Network personal video recording is a consumer service where real-time broadcast television is captured in the network on a server allowing the end user to access the recorded programs on the schedule of their choice, rather than being tied to the broadcast schedule. The NPVR system provides time-shifted viewing of broadcast programs, allowing subscribers to record and watch programs at their convenience, without the requirement of a truly personal PVR device. It could be compared as a "PVR that is built into the network" – however that would be slightly misleading unless the word "personal" is, of course, changed to "public" for this context.

Subscribers can choose from the programmes available in the network-based library, when they want, without needing yet another device or remote control. However, many people would still prefer to have their own PVR device, as it would allow them to choose exactly what they want to record. This bypasses the strict copyright and licensing regulations, as well as other limitations, that often prevent the network itself from providing "on demand" access to certain programmes (see Heroes, below).

In Greece, On Telecoms offers an NPVR service to all subscribers in their basic package with all the programming of all major national Greek TV channels for the last 72 hours. The user has to sign in their contract that they agree that the company will record national programming of the last 72 hours for them so that they can get around any legal implications (like the ones mentioned in the NPVR article) as this service would work like a personal PVR.

Currently, the only alternatives to IPTV are traditional TV distribution technologies such as terrestrial, satellite and cable. However, cable can be upgraded to two-way capability and can thus also carry IPTV.

IPTV via satellite

Although IPTV and conventional satellite TV distribution have been seen as complementary technologies, they are likely to be increasingly used together in hybrid IPTV networks that deliver the highest levels of performance and reliability. IPTV is largely neutral to the transmission medium, and IP traffic is already routinely carried by satellite for Internet backbone trunking and corporate VSAT networks.^[36] The use of satellite to carry IP is fundamental to overcoming the greatest shortcoming of IPTV over terrestrial cables – the speed/bandwidth of the connection.

The copper twisted pair cabling that forms the last mile of the telephone/broadband network in many countries is not able to provide a sizeable proportion of the population with an IPTV service that matches even existing terrestrial or satellite digital TV distribution. For a competitive multi-channel TV service, a connection speed of 20Mbit/s is likely to be required, but unavailable to most potential customers.^[37] The increasing popularity of high definition TV (with twice the data of SD video) increases connection speed requirements, or limits IPTV service quality and connection eligibility, yet further.

However, satellites are capable of delivering in excess of 100Gbit/s via multi-spot beam technologies, making satellite a clear emerging technology for implementing IPTV networks. Satellite distribution can be included in an IPTV network architecture in several ways. Simplest to implement is an IPTV-DTH architecture, in which hybrid DVB/broadband set-top boxes in subscriber homes integrate satellite and IP reception to give near-infinite bandwidth with return channel capabilities. In such a system, many live TV channels may be multicast via satellite (IP-encapsulated or as conventional DVB digital TV) with stored video-on-demand transmission via the broadband connection. Arqiva’s Satellite Media Solutions Division suggests “IPTV works best in a hybrid format. For example, you would use broadband to receive some content and satellite to receive other, such as live channels”.^[38]

Hybrid IPTV

Hybrid IPTV refers to the combination of traditional broadcast TV services and video delivered over either managed IP networks or the public internet. It is an increasing trend in both the consumer and pay TV [operator] markets^{[39][40] [41]}.

Hybrid IPTV has grown in popularity in recent years as a result of two major drivers. Since the emergence of online video aggregation sites, like YouTube and Vimeo in the mid-2000s, traditional pay-TV operators have come under increasing pressure to provide their subscribers with a means of viewing internet-based video [both professional and user-generated] on their TVs. At the same time, specialist IP-based operators [often telecommunications providers] have looked for ways to offer analogue and digital terrestrial services to their operations, without adding either additional cost or complexity to their transmission operations. Bandwidth is a valuable asset for operators, so many have looked for alternative ways to deliver these new services without investing in additional network infrastructures.

These trends led to the development of Hybrid IPTV Set-Top Boxes that included both a traditional broadcast tuner and an internet connection – usually an Ethernet port. The first commercially available Hybrid IPTV Set-Top Box was developed by Advanced Digital Broadcast, a developer of digital television hardware and software, in 2005. The platform was developed for Spanish pay TV operator, Telefonica^[42], and used as part of its Imagenio service, launched to subscribers at the end of 2005.

A hybrid set-top allows content from a range of sources, including terrestrial broadcast, satellite, and cable to be brought together with video delivered over the Internet via an Ethernet connection on the device. This enables television viewers to access a greater variety of content on their TV sets, without the need for a separate box for each service.

Hybrid IPTV Set-Top Boxes also enable consumers to access a range of advanced interactive services, such as VOD and catch-up TV, as well as internet applications, including video telephony, surveillance, gaming, shopping, e-government accessed via a television set.

From a pay-TV operator’s perspective, a Hybrid IPTV Set-Top Box gives them greater long term flexibility by enabling them to deploy new services and applications as and when consumers require, most often without the need to upgrade equipment or for an engineer to visit and reconfigure or swap out the device. This minimises the cost of launching new services, increases speed to market and limits disruption for consumers.^[43]

The Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) consortium of industry companies is currently promoting and establishing an open European standard for hybrid set-top boxes for the reception of broadcast and broadband digital TV and multimedia applications with a single user interface.^[44]

An alternative approach is the IPTV version of the Headend in the Sky cable TV solution. Here, mutilple TV channels are distributed via satellite to the ISP or IPTV provider’s point of presence (POP) for IP-encapsulated distribution to individual subscribers as required by each subscriber.

This can provide a huge selection of channels to subscribers without overburdening Internet trunking to the POP, and enables an IPTV service to be offered to small or remote operators outside the reach of terrestrial high speed broadband connection. An example is a network combining fibre and satellite distribution via an SES New Skies satellite of 95 channels to Latin America and the Caribbean, operated by IPTV Americas.^[45]

While the future development of IPTV probably lies with a number of coexisting architectures and implementations, it’s clear that broadcasting of high bandwidth applications such as IPTV is accomplished more efficiently and cost-effectively using satellite^[46] and it’s predicted that the majority of global IPTV growth will be fuelled by hybrid networks.^[47]

Advantages

The IP-based platform offers significant advantages, including the ability to integrate television with other IP-based services like high speed Internet access and VoIP.

A switched IP network also allows for the delivery of significantly more content and functionality. In a typical TV or satellite network, using broadcast video technology, all the content constantly flows downstream to each customer, and the customer switches the content at the set-top box. The customer can select from as many choices as the telecomms, cable or satellite company can stuff into the “pipe” flowing into the home. A switched IP network works differently. Content remains in the network, and only the content the customer selects is sent into the customer’s home. That frees up bandwidth, and the customer’s choice is less restricted by the size of the “pipe” into the home. This also implies that the customer's privacy could be compromised to a greater extent than is possible with traditional TV or satellite networks. It may also provide a means to hack into, or at least disrupt (see Denial of Service) the private network.

The economics of IPTV

The cable industry's expenditures of approximately $1 Billion per year are based on network updates to accommodate higher data speeds. Most operators use 2-3 channels to support maximum data speeds of 50 Mb/s to 100 Mb/s. However, because video streams require a high bit rate for much longer periods of time, the expenditures to support high amounts of video traffic will be much greater. This phenomenon is called persistency. Data persistency is routinely 5% while video persistency can easily reach 50%. As video traffic continues to grow, this means that significantly more CMTS(?) downstream channels will be required to carry this video content. Based on today's market, it is likely that industry expenditures for CMTS expansion could exceed $2 Billion a year, virtually all of this expenditure being driven by video traffic. Adoption of IPTV for carrying the majority of this traffic could save the industry approximately 75% of this CapEx expense.^[48]

Interactivity

An IP-based platform also allows significant opportunities to make the TV viewing experience more interactive and personalized. The supplier may, for example, include an interactive program guide that allows viewers to search for content by title or actor’s name, or a picture-in-picture functionality that allows them to “channel surf” without leaving the program they’re watching. Viewers may be able to look up a player’s stats while watching a sports game, or control the camera angle. They also may be able to access photos or music from their PC on their television, use a wireless phone to schedule a recording of their favorite show, or even adjust parental controls so their child can watch a documentary for a school report, while they’re away from home.

Note that this is all possible, to some degree, with existing digital terrestrial, satellite and cable networks in tandem with modern set top boxes.^{[citation needed]} In order that there can take place an interaction between the receiver and the transmitter a feedback channel is needed. Due to this terrestrial, satellite and cable networks for television does not allow interactivity. However, interactivity with those networks can be possible in the combination with different networks like internet or a mobile communication network.

Video-on-demand

IPTV technology is bringing Video-on-demand (VoD) to television^[49] which permits a customer to browse an online program or film catalog, to watch trailers and to then select a selected recording. The playout of the selected item starts nearly instantaneously on the customer's TV or PC.

Technically, when the customer selects the movie, a point-to-point unicast connection is set up between the customer's decoder (Set Top Box or PC) and the delivering streaming server. The signalling for the trick play functionality (pause, slow-motion, wind/rewind etc.) is assured by RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol).

The most common codecs used for VoD are MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and VC-1.

In an attempt to avoid content piracy, the VoD content is usually encrypted. Whilst encryption of satellite and cable TV broadcasts is an old practice, with IPTV technology it can effectively be thought of as a form of Digital Rights Management. A film that is chosen, for example, may be playable for 24 hours following payment, after which time it becomes unavailable.

IPTV-based converged services

Another advantage of an IP-based network is the opportunity for integration and convergence. This opportunity is amplified when using IMS-based solutions.^[50] Converged services implies interaction of existing services in a seamless manner to create new value added services. One good example is On-Screen Caller ID, getting Caller ID on your TV and the ability to handle it (send it to voice mail, etc.). IP-based services will help to enable efforts to provide consumers anytime-anywhere access to content over their televisions, PCs and cell phones, and to integrate services and content to tie them together. Within businesses and institutions, IPTV eliminates the need to run a parallel infrastructure to deliver live and stored video services.

Limitations

IPTV is sensitive to packet loss and delays if the streamed data is unreliable. IPTV has strict minimum speed requirements in order to facilitate the right number of frames per second to deliver moving pictures. This means that the limited connection speed/bandwidth available for a large IPTV customer base can reduce the service quality delivered.

Although a few countries have very high speed broadband-enabled populations, such as South Korea with 6 million homes benefiting from a minimum connection speed of 100Mbit/s, in other countries (such as the UK) legacy networks struggle to provide 3-5 Mbit/s^[51] and so simultaneous provision to the home of TV channels, VOIP and Internet access may not be viable. The last mile delivery for IPTV usually has a bandwidth restriction that only allows a small number of simultaneous TV channel streams – typically from one to three – to be delivered.^[52]

The same problem has also proved troublesome when attempting to stream IPTV across wireless links within the home. Improvements in wireless technology are now starting to provide equipment to solve the problem.^[53]

Due to the limitations of wireless, most IPTV service providers today use wired home networking technologies instead of wireless technologies like 802.11. Service Providers such as AT&T (which makes extensive use of wireline home networking as part of its U-Verse IPTV service) have expressed support for the work done in this direction by ITU-T, which has adopted Recommendation G.hn (also known as G.9960), which is a next generation home networking standard that specifies a common PHY/MAC that can operate over any home wiring (power lines, phone lines or coaxial cables).^[54][55]

Latency

The latency inherent in the use of satellite internet is often held up as reason why satellites cannot be successfully used for IPTV, but in practice latency is not an important factor for IPTV. An IPTV service does not require real-time transmission, as is the case with telephony or videoconferencing services.

It is the latency of response to requests to change channel, display an EPG, etc. that most affects customers’ perceived quality of service, and these problems affect satellite IPTV no more than terrestrial IPTV. Indeed, command latency problems, faced by terrestrial IPTV networks with insufficient bandwidth as their customer base grows, may be solved by the high capacity of satellite distribution.

Satellite distribution does suffer from latency – the time for the signal to travel up from the hub to the satellite and back down to the user is around 0.25 seconds, and cannot be reduced. However, the effects of this delay are mitigated in real-life systems using data compression, TCP-acceleration, and HTTP pre-fetching.^[56]

Satellite latency can be detrimental to especially time-sensitive applications such as on-line gaming (although it only seriously affects the likes of first-person shooters while many MMOGs can operate well over satellite internet^[57]), but IPTV is typically a simplex operation (one-way transmission) and latency is not a critical factor for video transmission.

Existing video transmission systems of both analogue and digital formats already introduce known quantifiable delays. Indeed, existing DVB TV channels that simulcast by both terrestrial and satellite transmissions, experience the same 0.25s delay difference between the two services with no detrimental effect, and it goes unnoticed by viewers.

Privacy implications

Due to limitations in bandwidth, an IPTV channel is delivered to the user one at a time, as opposed to the traditional multiplexed delivery. Changing a channel requires requesting the head-end server to provide a different broadcast stream, much like VOD (For VOD the stream is delivered using Unicast, for the normal TV signal Multicast is used). This could enable the service provider to accurately track each and every programme watched and the duration of watching for each viewer, broadcasters and advertisers could then understand their audience and programming better with accurate data and targeted advertising.^[58]

Vendors

A small number of companies supply most current IPTV systems. Some, such as Imagenio, were formed by telecoms operators themselves, to minimise external costs, a tactic also used by PCCW of Hong Kong. Some major telecoms vendors are also active in this space, notably Alcatel-Lucent (sometimes working with Imagenio), Ericsson (notably since acquiring Tandberg Television), NEC, Thomson, Huawei, and ZTE, as are some IT houses, led by Microsoft. California-based UTStarcom, Inc., Tennessee-based Worley Consulting, Tokyo-based The New Media Group and Oslo/Norway-based SnapTV also offer end-to-end networking infrastructure for IPTV-based services, and Hong Kong-based BNS Ltd. provides turnkey open platform IPTV technology solutions. Global sales of IPTV systems exceeded 2 billion USD in 2007.

Many of these IPTV solution vendors participated in the biennial Global MSF Interoperability 2008 (GMI) event which was coordinated by the MultiService Forum (MSF) at five sites worldwide from 20- to 31-October 2008. Test equipment vendors including Codenomicon, Empirix, Ixia, Mu Dynamics and Spirent joined solution vendors such as the companies listed above in one of the largest IPTV proving grounds ever deployed.

Service bundling

For residential users, IPTV is often provided in conjunction with Video on Demand and may be bundled with Internet services such as Internet access and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telecommunications services. Commercial bundling of IPTV, VoIP and Internet access is sometimes referred to in marketing as triple play service. When these three are offered with mobility, the service may be referred to as quadruple play.

IPTV Regulation

Historically, broadcast television has been regulated differently than telecommunications. As IPTV allows TV and VoD to be transmitted over IP networks new regulatory issues arise.^[59] Professor Eli M. Noam highlights in his report "TV or Not TV: Three Screens, One Regulation?" some of the key challenges with sector specific regulation that is becoming obsolete due to convergence in this field.^[60]

See also

• Comparison of streaming media systems
• Comparison of video services
• Content delivery network
• Grid casting
• Internet television
• List of music streaming services
• List of streaming media systems
• Multicast
• P2PTV
• Protection of Broadcasts and Broadcasting Organizations Treaty
• Software as a service
• Streaming media
• Webcast
• Web television

References

1. ^ ITU-T Newslog, 2006
2. ^ [1]
3. ^ What is IP television?
4. ^ Cisco - Summary of Acquisitions
5. ^ KCTU-TV earns a place in television, Internet history - Wichita Business Journal:
6. ^ History of IPTV
7. ^ "Lucent Technologies Introduces First Commercial IP Video Over DSL Solution, Business Net". http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2002_April_10/ai_84632001. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
8. ^ "Internet HDTV unveiled, Regina Leader-Post". http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/business_agriculture/story.html?id=ebc83348-ad20-4c37-817d-308a6df69cce. Retrieved 2006-11-15.
9. ^ (Sami)"Bredbandsbolaget is mobilizing for IP TV"
10. ^ AT&T U-verse TV Lineup Expands to 100 or More High Definition Channels in Every U-Verse TV Market
11. ^ Gartner - 2007 Press releases
12. ^ Internet TV: Communicating in the 21st Century
13. ^ Eggerton, John (2009-12-14). "Broadcasters Squeezed by Convergence Push". Broadcasting & Cable. http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/439909-Broadcasters_Squeezed_by_Convergence_Push.php?rssid=20068&q=digital+tv. Retrieved 2009-12-17.
14. ^ IPTV Global Forecast (2008-2013) International Television Expert Group
15. ^ BHtelecom.ca
16. ^ KPN.com
17. ^ T-Home.hu
18. ^ InviTV.hu
19. ^ BT Vision passes 398k subs in 4Q08
20. ^ "Salad days," Chris Dziadul, Broadband TV News, May 2, 2008
21. ^ Delivering IPTV System to Kazakhtelecom Article from the IPTV industrial portal
22. ^ iD TV services for broadband subscribers in Kazakhstan Kazakhtelecom JSC - iD TV service for Home users
23. ^ "BabyFirst launches on BesTV in China," Indiantelevision.com Team, May 2, 2008.
24. ^ IPTV - Another Viewing Choice!
25. ^ Distributed Architecture vsCentralized Architecture for IP VoD, Annual Review of Communications, Vol. 58
26. ^ HomePlug Alliance keeps plugging away
27. ^ IPTV distribution using DS2 powerline networks
28. ^ 20 Million MoCA Nodes Have Been Shipped
29. ^ LightReading: Why AT&T Likes HomePNA
30. ^ Could MoCA/HomePlug win in-home networking wars?
31. ^ HomeGrid Forum Blog - Why do we need a unified standard at all?
32. ^ New global standard for fully networked home, ITU-T Press Release
33. ^ ETSI TS 182 027
34. ^ IMS-based IPTV services - architecture and implementation
35. ^ MSforum.org
36. ^ Berlocher, Greg and Freyer, Dan. "IP And Satellite: Communications Worlds Merging" Via Satellite January 2009 p24-28
37. ^ Taga, Karim. "Hybrid delivery of content for IPTV" InterComms Issue 11 August 2008 p13-14
38. ^ Holmes, Mark. "Broadcast 2.0: The Changing Scene In Europe" Via Satellite September 2008 p20-25
39. ^ http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2009/10/14/uk-and-france-lead-with-hybrid-iptv-set-tops/
40. ^ http://www.mrgco.com/press_releases.html#hstb09
41. ^ http://jviptv.wordpress.com/2009/06/25/hybrid-iptv-stb/
42. ^ http://www.digitaltvnews.net/items/060911adb_spain.htm
43. ^ http://www.v-net.tv/Webcast.aspx?id=5
44. ^ HbbTV Consortium (August 27, 2009). "New European initiative merges television with the power of the internet". Press release. http://www.hbbtv.org/news/HBBTV_PR_Final.pdf.
45. ^ IPTV Americas (January 13, 2009). "IPTV Americas Launches First IPTV Satellite Distribution Platform for Latin America and The Caribbean via SES NEW SKIES’ NSS-806". Press release. http://www.iptv-americas.tv/releaseDB.php?leng=&notID=47.
46. ^ International Datacasting Corporation "Why IP Over Satellite?". Accessed January 18, 2009. Company factsheet
47. ^ "Future Looks Bright For IPTV" Satellite Today'.' Retrieved January 18, 2009.
48. ^ The Economics of IPTV
49. ^ Broadband Users Control What They Watch and When
50. ^ Session and Media SIgnalling for IPTV via IMS
51. ^ Bulkley, Kate. "IPTV’s Eastern Promise" Digital TV Europe October 2008 p48
52. ^ Brown, Peter J. "Super Headends And High Expectations" Via Satellite April 2006 p18-30
53. ^ Market Wire "ZyXEL Announces Industry's First ADSL2/2+ 802.11n Gateway and New IPTV Product Offerings" June 2008
54. ^ HomePNA and HomeGrid Sign Liaison Agreement, Groups Work to Promote New ITU G.hn Global Wired Home Networking Standard
55. ^ AT&T Participating in G.hn Standard Development
56. ^ Newtec Productions NV "TP200 Sat3Play Broadband Terminal" (Version R2/01.2008). Satellite Internet Modem factsheet
57. ^ Tom’s Hardware "How much latency is too much for Online Gaming?". Accessed January 23, 2009. Internet Forum
58. ^ IPTV privacy risks
59. ^ Ericson report on need for regulationPDF (217 KB)
60. ^ TV or Not TV

• Securing Converged IP Networks, Tyson Macaulay, Auerbach 2006 (ISBN 0849375800)
• "Does Video Delivered Over A Telephone Network Require A Cable Franchise?" AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies

External links

• ITU IPTV Focus Group
• Ars Technica: An Introduction to IPTV
• IPTV over IMS

Categories: Digital television | Film and video technology | Internet broadcasting | Internet television | Video on demand services

See Also:

What Links Here:

• IPTV
• IP Multimedia Subsystem: Encyclopedia

Recently Viewed Pages:

• Search Terms
• Home
• Final Cut Studio: Blogs
• Compression: Blogs
• Motorola: News
• ProCare
• IPod Touch: Encyclopedia
• ITunes Store
• Compressor (Software): Blogs
• Directory

Most Popular Pages:

• Application
• IPod Nano 5TH: Answers
• JibJab: Answers
• Search Terms
• QCP
• Home
• Itunes: Answers
• ITunes: Answers
• Jibjab Sendables: Answers
• Final Cut Studio: Blogs

Related 'IPTV' Searches: