Net Neutrality

TelecomView has just filed comments with the FCC giving our thoughts on the U.S. Net Neutrality issue. We believe that networks should not be neutral and that preferential treatment should be provided on a service basis. For example, I believe that my Vonage VoIP calls should have higher priority than my wife's file downloads.

We also describe the difference between the broadband services and the Internet services offered over them. Broadband services often include an IPTV service separate from the Internet service today. Our comments also suggest that there should be equal access arrangements available for these IPTV services, so that other content providers can offer video services as part of these IPTV services.

Click on this link to get more information and to request a copy of our comments.

BBC to Launch HD

The BBC in the UK plans to launch HD on as many platforms as possible in 2008. It is currently offering HD over satellite and is getting a strong positive reception. It believes that 80 percent of the homes in the UK will have HD sets by the end of the decade.

This move to HD will put significant pressure on the new BT Vision service. BT's broadband network does not provide enough speed to support HD today. The availability of HD on satellite and cable is likely to increase the acceptance of these services.

Verizon Takes Over Middleware

Verizon is previewing a new version of the middleware package for its IPTV service. It started with the Microsoft Foundation software, but has made it its own by taking over development. Enhancements in the new version include an improved graphics interface and a Gemstar TV guide.

This is not the IPTV Edition software that ATT and others are using for their IP based services. Verizon uses an RF technology similar to cable networks to deliver TV.

Verizon was unable to get the features that it needed from Microsoft, so it went in its own direction last year.

China Telecom to test AVS

EETimes has reported that China Telecom plans to test AVS video encoding at its Shanghai Telecom subsidiary in this article. China Telecom denied the report but a vice director of a state owned research group confirmed it.

China Netcom plans to use AVS-based IPTV in 20 cities by the end of 2007,.

AVS is one of several domestic standards that China is promoting in order to reduce its dependency on foreign intellectual property. If the strategy is successful, it will shift the flow of royalties and fees to local, rather than foreign, companies and help to build up domestic technology.

Using AVS will require unique encoders and set-top boxes in China since the rest of the world is going to MPEG-4 AVC. This will significantly raise the cost of IPTV deployment in China, since the set-top box typically accounts for 3/4 of the capital investment in IPTV services.

China is very serious about developing its own technology. It finds that the return from building low cost hardware is low be case so much of the margin goes to technology patent holders outside of China.

U-verse Blog

Here is a link to a blog by a new U-verse user. Installation was tough but U-verse has some interesting new features, such as the ability to record four channels at the same time on the set-box's hard disk.

I am going to continue to watch this blog and I will let you know if anything else interesting turns up.

Chunghwa to use Microsoft IPTV

Chunghwa Telecom, the incumbent carrier in Taiwan, has joined with Microsoft in a broad agreement that will include using Microsoft IPTV Edition software. No date was announced when Chunghwa will convert from its Alcatel software that it is currently using to the Microsoft software. The two companies plan for Microsoft's IPTV Edition software to become the core of Chunghwa's Digital Life strategy that will include TV services, on line gaming, and home offices services. These services will be delivered over fiber and DSL services.

Chunghwa also plans to use Microsoft software to provide CRM, ERP, and other business services to small and medium sized enterprises. Chunghwa will also use Microsoft software to help manage its networks.

Chunghwa has had quite a history of IPTV middleware packages. It started with Orca, which took it from zero to about 40 thousand subscribers. It then switched to Alcatel's middleware a bit before the Microsoft alliance was announced. Alcatel software has taken Chunghwa up to nearly 300 thousand IPTV subscribers. It will use Microsoft to take it to the next step.

Advanced Advertising

LightReading published an article on a panel that it put on JP Morgan technology conference Telecom 2.0: The Collision of Content & Communications in Boston. The panel stated that advanced advertising may be the key to ATT and Verizon differentiating their services from the cable companies. The panel also stated that this kind of advertising could double the revenue potential of TelcoTV services.

I wrote a report for the Multimedia Research group called Advanced Advertising for IPTV Services that was published last fall that reached similar conclusions. TelcoTV networks can provide a lot of information about how ads are watched today that advertisers cannot get today. For example, it is possible to track the number of viewers that switch an add off in the first 10 seconds. It is also possible to offer new forms of interactive ads.

Our recent report Networking Strategies for TelcoTV Services describes what telcos will need to do to address the load that these interactive advanced advertising services will put on their networks.