IPTV Zone at IBC2010 to Showcase New Technologies Driving the Explosive Growth in IPTV

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.

Now in its fourth year, the IBC2010 IPTV Zone has been expanded to form a hub for a new area and visitor attraction showcasing advances in connected consumer devices and exploring their impact on content creation and distribution.

The IBC2010 IPTV Zone will be accompanied by the IBC2010 IPTV Zone Business Briefings to which attendance is free. These briefings will examine some of the issues and opportunities arising from this revolution in broadcast content delivery in further detail and are intended to reinforce and complement the established peer reviewed, paid-delegate IBC Conference. Amongst the subjects addressed at this year’s Business Briefings will be the impact of new technologies on traditional revenue streams and the emergence of new business models and funding mechanisms.

The IPTV Zone at IBC2010 is being jointly developed and marketed by IBC, IT Europa and BPL. The IBC2010 exhibition takes place from 10th - 14th September 2010 at the RAI, Amsterdam.

Credit to TVOver.net

Sony uses IPTV to lure buyers

YESTERDAY'S launch of Sony's new range of Bravia televisions neatly summed up a marketing puzzle facing the consumer electronics and entertainment group: how to sell 2D TVs in a year in which all the hype is about 3D.

Sony Australia is hoping part of the answer is Bravia Internet Video, a content platform that will deliver 15 new internet protocol TV channels over a household broadband connection direct to the TV set. It will be available on 21 of 26 new Bravia models from next month and marketed under the slogan "TV on your terms". Models that play 3D will not be available until July.

Sony Australia chief Carl Rose said the launch was a "defining moment" for Sony, which will become the first TV manufacturer to launch IPTV content in

Australia. Local video-on-demand channels from Billabong, Yahoo7 and SBS will join global brands including video-sharing site YouTube, how-to channel eHow, and golfing brand Golflink on the Bravia Internet Video platform.

Several brands associated with global magazine publisher Conde Nast, including tech publisher Wired, fashion brand Style.com and food channel Epicurious, are also available as video channels.

In the same presentation, the company said the full 3D experience in the home (including 3D movies or games, a 3D player, a 3D TV set and the 3D glasses to see it) would not be available until July.

Sony consumer products executive Toby Barbour said there was not enough 3D content today to drive 3D TV sales.

"July is the right time for the 3D experience from the word go," he said yesterday.

Meanwhile, TV manufacturers are expected to turn to the FIFA World Cup in June to help drive sales in the first half of the year.

Sony's Bravia platform will enable viewers to watch highlights packages of games they may have missed on SBS's IPTV channel instead of on a computer.

Yahoo internet widgets, which allow information such as sharemarket prices, sports scores and weather, will also be available on several Bravia models.

Credit to TheAustralian.com.au

Sony's IPTV puts Catch Up TV on the big screen

Sony's IPTV deal with Network Seven's Plus7 marks the next major step in the way Australians watch television.

As I said last week, I'm very impressed with Plus7 and it puts Nine and Ten's efforts to shame. I ended up calling on Plus7 this week after my TiVo skipped a beat and for some reason failed to record Lost on 7TWO. I'm taking the "28 day 7TWO Lost challenge", to see if I can tolerate time-shifting free-to-air rather than using the BT channel.

I realised about 10.30pm Wednesday that the TiVo had failed to record Lost at 8.30pm and I was about to head over to Isohunt when I thought it might be worth checking Plus7. There was Lost, ready to play. I used my Media Centre to watch it full screen on my 46-inch Bravia and the picture was shabby but watchable - certainly not as crisp or smooth as a decent BitTorrent download. Plus7 drops in one advertisement at every ad break that can't be skipped, which is annoying but bearable if you mute the sound. I'd much rather do that than pay Apple $2.99 an episode from the iTunes store.

Of course Plus7 is designed for watching on a computer, not a big television. Sony's "Bravia Internet Video" IPTV service looked much sharper on the big Bravias at this week's launch in Sydney, all but indistinguishable from an SD broadcast. I'm guessing it's encoded at a higher rate than the clips on the Plus7 website.

Shows from SBS are also available via Sony's IPTV service and negotiations are underway with the ABC's iView - which would be brilliant. The Freeview consortium is also working on its equivalent to iView, which hopefully will come to the Bravia Internet Video service as well. Sony is even working on a Movie on Demand service, which would be the icing on the cake.

Bravia Internet Video will also come to the PlayStation 3 and Sony Blu-ray players later this year - which is great news for people who don't want to buy a new television just to access what is clearly Australia's best free IPTV service. It's just one more excuse to buy a PlayStation 3, and I might finally cave in later this year (just don't tell my friend Al, a diehard PS3-fanboy, or I'll never hear the end of it).

The truth is that your average person doesn't want a computer in their lounge room, no matter what the entertainment benefits. As Sony makes IPTV available directly from its televisions, Blu-ray players and games consoles I'm certain IPTV will see mainstream adoption in Australia - perhaps turning people away from piracy. Sony and Seven have thrown down the gauntlet, let's see how the other networks and manufacturers respond.

Credit to Adam Turner, Hidrapinion