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[Wednesday at NAB]
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IPTV Changes Viewing Habits
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by Craig Johnston,
~ April 16, 2008
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TV TECHNOLOGY
IPTV is undoubtedly changing the face of television. Habits are evolving and demand is for more interactive viewing — instantaneously.
Speakers and panelists at Tuesday afternoon’s “IPTV Right Now — Where We Are and What We Have Learned” Super Session said IPTV is fast becoming a two-way experience.
“Television is about to enter another transformation, where it will combine the power of broadband networks and software,” said keynoter Enrique Rodriguez, corporate vice president for Microsoft TV.
“Television today is mostly live and linear in a space in time,” Rodriquez said. “The great popularity of DVRs has changed that somewhat, but still today the great majority of television is viewed linearly.”
IPTV will change that, he said, predicting that as consumers are able to get programs on-demand — when and where they want to watch them — it will become more engaging and personal. “I think we as an industry must learn what it means,” he said.
Though Europe and Asia are ahead of the U.S. television system in terms of interactive or two-way television, NBC Universal will broadcast the upcoming Summer Olympics via its traditional over-the-air and cable networks, as well as over the Internet utilizing Microsoft’s Silverlight application.
The panel that followed featured three executives, ranging from IPTV system providers to content providers, each explaining how they see the IPTV future.
“I see IPTV as clearly in its infancy,” said Art Hair, chief technology officer of Walt Disney Studios. But he said Disney has great expectations for IPTV as an enabler for consumers to choose when and how they will view content. “I think it’s up to us to provide our content globally to customers the way the want it. IPTV is our supply chain,” Hair said.
Dan York, executive vice president for programming at AT&T, said people aren’t willing to switch just because it’s IPTV, “but when they see what it can do, they want it. He said AT&T has rolled out IPTV service in 24 markets, and the challenge the company is facing is to train enough installers, because demand has been brisk.
Brian Levy, vice president and CTO for communications at Hewlett-Packard Co. Media & Entertainment, said “What IPTV changes is that instead of watching what somebody else wants you to watch, [you choose] what you want to watch.” He said IPTV changes the geography of television, where viewers will be able to choose programs from massive libraries.
The panelists cautioned that not all viewers are going to be comfortable with IPTV if the technology is too inobvious and asks too much from them.
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