IPTV and the Next Generation Television Experience

{ Dan Stieglitz // New Media // April 27, 2008 }

At The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference two weeks ago I attended a keynote and panel discussion about IPTV. “Where we are now and what we have learned” was the title. The Keynote speaker was Microsoft’s SVP of Microsoft TV and both his speech and the subsequent panel discussion touched on several topics, including defining what that next-generation television experience really is, and how all of the supporting industries will be affected by the shift to whatever that viewer experience will be. His speech was quite Microsoft-centric, although he can’t really be faulted for that. All of the panelists agreed that it’s not clear what this experience will look and feel like although it will be two-way, not one-way as it is today and it will no longer be only about the best picture and sound quality. The experience itself; the interactivity (and therefore also the content) will be paramount. In fact, I’d venture to say that if the content was compelling enough, viewers will endure a weaker visual and audible experience.

The challenges to this new experience are many, including:

Lack of standards for getting video to viewers over the IP network, and also for getting information back from them
The need for a more scalable internet, larger address space, and cheaper bandwidth
New creative ideas about what two-way television feels like

IPTV today is the same television experience we’ve been used to, just delivered over IP networks. It’s prepackaged, completely closed and tightly controlled by industry. So what will this new set of content experience consist of? What will two-way TV look like? How will open source play in this new world? In throwing the ball around with some friends and colleagues we came up with some ideas: