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VON = Voice on the Net or Video on the Net?

I didn't attend VON, so I cannot attest to the traffic numbers or how the "buzz" was at the show just a few short weeks ago. However, I found some interesting posts from bloggers and websites that discussed the VON show. One interesting comment was from Eric Chamberlain, from Voxilla that said,  "This was my first VON show. Turnout appeared light and my peers confirmed that turnout was around 20 percent lower than in past years. It's been a while since I worked a trade show and maybe I've spent too much time in Berkeley, but it felt like we were nickel-and-dimed for every little thing at the show."

20% lower than the previous year? VoIP is growing like gangbusters, so why the low turnout at VON? Has VoIP peaked? Does the lower turnout explain why Pulver has changed the name of the show from "video on the Net" to "Voice on the Net" in an attempt to broaden his audience appeal? TMC runs several VoIP-related tradeshows, including the flagship Internet Telephony Conference & Expo show, so if VON is any indication of lower turnout at VoIP shows, this doesn't bode well for TMC's shows.

Although VON is a direct competitor to my company, I'd much rather see VON do well than do poorly. So I asked Rich how our next show, coming up in 2 weeks in San Diego was doing -- registration/attendee-wise. Rich said, "Since early Summer, ITEXPO registration has been running well ahead of 2005 - and the momentum has not stopped. This event is on pace to have the most exhibitors, most paid conference attendees, and most exhibit hall attendees in the history of the show."

Rich continued, "The registration numbers for this show look fantastic and we expect attendees from up to 70 countries. In addition to buyers -- something ITEXPO always attracts -- we have been focusing extensively on recruiting the most influential, press, analysts and financial people. We expect ITEXPO to be the best attended IP communications show in the world. The show will take up a significant portion of the San Diego Convention center and this is a can't miss event."

Now if it was just one comment on VON, I could easily discount it. However, Voxilla isn't the only one that was dissapointed in this past VON show. Marc Robins, an industry analyst and reporter had a mixed review when he wrote, "The exhibit floor looks quite good, with 350 or so booths and decent traffic. I did detect a bit of boredom on Jeff's part with respect to VoIP -- he seems to be tiring of the technology and clearly finds Video over IP a more compelling area right now."

Interestingly, and on a related note, I came across some interesting comments to a paidcontent.org article.

Dave: VON = voice on the net NOT video
Rafat: Dave…it is Pulver’s new thing…he’s still calling it VOD, for video on the net.

So even VON attendees are confused and aren't yet aware of the name change.

Skype Journal writes about how Pulver demo'ed a high definition trailer of the Ghost Rider movie. While I'm sure it was pretty entertaining to watch a high-def trailer of a movie coming out, do we really attend tradeshows to be entertained? Most attendees to telecom/VoIP shows are there to be educated, to learn about new products and how to apply them in their business. Another portion of attendees there are vendors and they are there to sell their products, partner with other vendors, as well as demonstrate a "market presence" by exhibiting at the major VoIP tradeshows. Yet another portion is analysts and reporters that are there to report interesting news. Is seeing Ghost Rider in high-definition during a keynote interesting news? I suppose in context Pulver could be simply setting the stage for what the future holds in the video-on-demand space - in particular within the IPTV space. Nothing wrong with that I suppose, but it certainly shows a change in direction for the VON show.

During his keynote, Pulver pulled up on screen a virtual live conference room in "Pulveria," an online space he created at Second Life. From within this virtual world, 3D avatars watched his keynote address over the Internet.  While it's a cool concept, and I actually checked out the Pulveria conference room, I hear the keynote's video frame rate was a dismal 6FPS or less for most attendees. The virtual tradeshow/conference using IP is still a way off. Besides, there's nothing like "pressing the flesh".

So with all this focus on streaming video to Second Life, HD movie trailers, etc., is this further proof that Voice over IP (VoIP) just isn't as exciting to Pulver any more? Jeff just celebrated his 10th year anniversary for VON, which was previously known as "Voice on the Net" but for whatever reason on this 10th year, he decided to change the name to "Video on the Net". Video certainly seems to be Jeff's new love, leaving his former love, "VoIP", feeling jaded after a loving 10 year marriage.

In fact, I was able to get an "exclusive" interview with Mrs. VoIP to get her take on their marriage break-up.

Tom: So Mrs. VoIP, tell me, what happened between you and Jeff?
Mrs. VoIP: I don't know. Jeff and I were happily married for so long. Jeff was one of my earliest fans, before I became so famous. He even stood up before Congess in defense of me.

Tom: That's interesting. Pulver went all the way to Washington D.C. to defend you?
Mrs. VoIP: Yes, that's right. He even lobbied against a proposed tax on VoIP (me) and broadband.

Tom: So Jeff is a lobbyist? Does he known Jack Abramoff?
Mrs. VoIP: I don't know if Pulver knows Jack.

Tom: Pulver doesn't know Jack? I thought he was a smart guy.
Mrs. VoIP: Oh Jeff knows plenty of things. But he's certainly not the same man I used to know. I used to be the star of his Voice on the Net (VON) show. Now I am just a side attraction.

Tom: So when did Jeff start distancing himself from you?
Mrs. VoIP: Well, it all started once Jeff started lobbying for net neutrality.

Tom: Yes, but doesn't net neutrality help VoIP? Doesn't it help you against the "big boys" blocking VoIP packets?
Mrs. VoIP: Yes, it does, but once Jeff took up the battle cry for net neutrality, he was spending less and less time with me. I should have seen the writing on the wall. <blows nose><sniff>

Tom: There there, Mrs. VoIP.

Mrs. VoIP: He did go to bat for me in trying to get e911 legislation passed, but I could tell his heart wasn't in it any more. I just wasn't as sexy to him any more. <sniff> That's when Mrs. Video over IP stole him from me. First, Jeff wrote a really long blog post listing the top Internet video TV channels. That damn video chick stole him from me! Reminds me of that LonelyGirl15 chick. I hope Mrs. Video over IP pulls a LonelyGirl15 on him! We all know that YouTube video chick was a fraud. I, Mrs. VoIP, would never perpetrate a fraud on him! VoIP is an honest biz free from fraud ya know.

Tom: What about VoIP CallerID spoofing, or those guys that resold stolen VoIP minutes?
Mrs. VoIP: <crying> Never you mind. It's not very nice to argue with a crying lady you know.

Tom: My apologies. This may be a tough question to ask, but what do you think of Mrs. Video over IP?
Mrs. VoIP: Sure, she's pretty and all. Sure video is a huge multibillion dollar industry. In fact, the online porn industry probably accounts for a huge chunk of Internet traffic - mostly XXX video downloads. I know Bittorrent is #1, but half the stuff being downloaded on Bittorrent is probably video porn. Well, let me tell ya, Mrs. Video over IP outta show some respect cause I started this whole porn industry ya know.

Tom: Really?
Mrs. VoIP: Well, technically it was my Ma.

Tom: Ma who?
Mrs. VoIP: Ma Bell. She made a killing on 1-900 phone sex calls. In fact, she's still doing phone sex even though Ma Bell is over a hundred years old.

Tom: Now there's an image I don't want to ...
Mrs. VoIP: <interrupts> Excuse me? Are you making fun of my Ma?

Tom: No.. no. Not me. Let's move on, shall we?
Mrs. VoIP: Let's just say Jeff would be nothing without me. I made Jeff the successful entrepreneur that he is today. As for Mrs. Video over IP... She would be nothing without Voice over IP. Who wants to watch a video with no sound? Shall we go back to the 1920s of silent film before the "talkies" were invented? I don't think so. Let's say that eventually in the future everyone has a videphone in their home.  Which would you rather have - video and no voice, or voice and no video. Can't communicate with just video, and no sound, now can ya?

Tom: Well, if you know sign language... maybe charades...
Mrs. VoIP: Don't argue with me. I already had one VoIP blogger turn on me, so don't tell me you're thinking about leaving me too.

Tom: Did I say that?
Mrs. VoIP: You didn't have to. I can hear it in your voice. You think Mrs. Voice over IP is sexier than me! You men are all the same! Just try and use your Vonage line tonight, mister! I'm going to mess up the QoS on the line.

Tom: I hate to break it to ya, but I switched from Vonage to AT&T's unlimited-plan double-play package which uses the PSTN.
Mrs. VoIP: Damn you! This hurts far more than Jeff leaving me! Not you, Tom. Of all people, not you! Tom, please don't leave me. What do I have to do to make you stay?

Tom: Hmmmmm. Well, do you know Miss Data? No relation to Mr. Data from Star Trek - The Next Generation.
Mrs. VoIP: <cautiously> Yes... I know Miss Data.

Tom: Not 'slow' Dialup Miss Data. I'm talking about that fast woman. She's gotta be fast.
Mrs. VoIP: What's up with men and liking fast women? She's fast all right. Miss High-Speed Data is her full name. What do you want with her?

Tom: In addition to Miss High-Speed Data, I want you and Mrs. Video over IP in my house as well.
Mrs. VoIP: You want a threesome?

Tom: Hey, now, I'm a married man!  I just want a Triple Play offering from you and the other two with excellent features, tight integration, and good quality of service. And I want it cheap.

Mrs. VoIP: So you want us woman to be cheap, provide service to you, and feature "tight" integration? Hmph! Oh I see how it is. You want your cake and eat it too. I don't play that game. Have fun playing with your PSTN. Goodbye!

The preceding was all in jest. Any attempts at humor that failed I blame on Jeff. Yep it's his fault for inspiring this blog post. I assume no responsibility for any bad humor.

In all seriousness, I hope the 20% downturn at VON this year was just a "blip" or a fluke. Was it related to refocusing the show on video instead of voice? Is Jeff becoming too much of a 'visionary 'instead of focusing on technology solutions that exist today? Hard to say. All I know is that I'm excited to head to sunny San Diego in just 2 weeks for ITEXPO where I can gauge for myself the pulse of the IP communications industry. By all accounts, IT EXPO should be a great show.  I'll be reporting from the show - including all the interesting VoIP news expected to come out. I will be sure to also post my analysis of the attendee traffic numbers - for better or worse - here on my blog. You can count on me to be brutally honest and to say it like it is.

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Written by VoIP & Gadgets Blog on September 27th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on IPTV and VoIP and video.

Tibet Web TV Launched

The Central Tibetan Administration and Tibetan diaspora have launched Tibet Online, a web television site that will devote most of its coverage to the teachings of the Dalai Lama. However Tibetans inside Tibet may not be able to access the Web television site due to the Great Firewall. Looks like for now the website can be viewed inside the Great Firewall, though for how long, who knows! “Distance often uproots people from their social and cultural moorings. This online TV could well become a rallying point for Tibetans worldwide,” said Kalon Lobsang Nyandak Zayul, director of the documentary Joy of Living. Tibetonline.tv also features an archive of documentary films on Tibet.

“In the light of changing social patterns, particularly the young, increasingly relying on the Internet for news and information, the web TV will go a long way in getting across the policies and works of the Central Tibetan Administration, realizing thereby one of the cardinal objectives of the Kashag: transparency,” Mr. Zayul said.

Written by Shailaja Neelakantan on August 5th, 2006 with no comments.
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India’s MTNL to Launch Internet Protocol TV

India’s state-run telecommunications company Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) plans to sign commercial arrangements with broadcasters like STAR TV, Zee TV and Sony Entertainment, among others, for its Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) services, reports The Financial Express newspaper.

‘Tri-Band,’ MTNL’s IPTV service that is currently undergoing trials in parts of Delhi and Mumbai is expected to target 200,000 broadband subscribers when it formally launches in the two cities. Bharti Enterprises, India’s largest private mobile services company, is also conducting IPTV trials in Gurgaon, a suburb of Delhi, with test signals from STAR Plus, ESPN and Zee TV, sources told the newspaper.

“We have given our signals to MTNL and Bharti for testing IPTV,” a STAR TV official said. “In Chandigarh, we are even offering `Triple Play’,” the official added, referring to a bundled offering of voice, video and data.

There are currently no regulations in place for IPTV services in India. “The commercial launch of IPTV will be possible as soon as regulations regarding content, program code and other governing guidelines are getting in place,” a senior official at the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India told the newspaper.

Written by Shailaja Neelakantan on August 1st, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on IPTV and India Telecom.

Another Microsoft IPTV Delay?

Deutsche Telekom, one of the largest incumbents in Europe has delayed its T-Home Internet Television system, due to technical problems. The service which was supposed to be launched in July 2006 is now going to be available in mid-October. “Some say we’re delaying interactive TV services but we never really said when we plan to offer them,” a DT spokesperson tells tells IDG news service. A head in the sand strategy perhaps?

The news reports on DT’s delay have been sketchy but our good friend Dave Burstein, who pens the DSL Prime e-newsletter has some further details.

“They now have halted deployment to spend six months integrating the systems, getting the bugs out of Microsoft IPTV and the network, and then adding 3 million more homes by the first quarter of 2007,” he writes in most recent missive.
British Telecom, Swisscom, Telecom Italia and DT are some of the European incumbents betting on Microsoft TV. In private chats with some senior executives, we did not get a sense that they had any confidence on current generation offering, but remained pretty high on the overall direction Microsoft is taking.

Written by Om Malik on August 1st, 2006 with no comments.
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Qwest Has Its IPTV

Verizon and AT&T might be the ones who are hogging the limelight when it comes to IPTV, but don’t take Qwest to be a slouch. The Denver-based micro-Bell is planning to launch video services in many new markets, according to The Denver Post.

The company at present offers either fiber based or copper based TV services in some parts of Colorado, Omaha and Phoenix. It is also upgrading a big chunk of its network, and is also reselling DirecTV to its customers. The report is sketchy on details about which markets it is going to rollout its services. (Tips anyone?)

Qwest’s moves should not come as a surprise: four of Qwest’s six major markets are also services by Comcast, which has been aggressively launching VoIP services. It turned on its VoIP offering in Utah recently. Comcast’s triple play (which could also be triple pay) could become a major migraine for the micro-Bell, which doesn’t have the deep pockets to out-duel the cable behemoth.

Written by Om Malik on July 6th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on IPTV and DSL and PhoneCo.

Akimbo, On Cusp Of Big Time?

If venture investors are any indicator then both Akimbo and video on demand over broadband is about to hit big time.

The San Mateo-based start-up has raised $15.5 million in series C financing from new investors, Cisco Systems, AT&T and venture capital firm, Blueprint Ventures. Existing investors - Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Sprout Group and Zone Ventures - also participated in this round of funding. Akimbo had raised $12 million its previous round of funding back in 2004. (More from Silicon Beat here.)

The tactical implications of this funding cannot be missed. Cisco, which led this round of financing owns Linksys, KISS and Scientific Atlanta, one of the major set-top box makers. This could mean Akimbo software could find its way into a myriad of devices. Joshua Goldman, CEO of Akimbo feels that along with AT&T, the Akimbo service can now find a mainstream audience. But the most interesting aspect of this investment is AT&T. Akimbo had previously had a deal with AT&T which allowed Ma Bell to distribute Akimbo programing on its AT&T’s Homezone service, scheduled to launch later this summer. The investment formalizes the relationship.

Still, I cannot help but read between the lines. AT&T has been pushing higher speed DSL connections. While not fast for instant on-demand video, they are plenty good enough for Akimbo-type services that trickle down the content to set-top boxes. It has also been aggressively hawking its DISH Network TV offering. AT&T’s Homezone offering will be focus of attention this summer. Add it all up: Project LightSpeed may not be moving at lightening speed!

Written by Om Malik on June 25th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on IPTV and Start-Ups and DSL.

Skype, Now On Your TV

Oregan Networks, a London-based company has released a Oregan Media Browser, which allows information such as Skype’s in-coming caller ID and message alerts to be displayed on the television screen. Cable companies and Microsoft’s telecom, have talked and demoed such capabilities, but mostly for their own VoIP offerings, leaving Skype out of the loop. While consumers can’t go out and get this product, since it is mostly for use inside the set-top boxes, it is nice to see that some people are thinking about extending Skype to non-PC devices. (Link Tip, David Zatz)

Written by Om Malik on June 21st, 2006 with no comments.
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Connecticut Gives IPTV Thumbs Up

Connecticut’s Department of Public Utility Control has given the thumbs up (by a vote of 3-2) to AT&T’s IP video saying that it is not subject to legacy cable franchising requirements in the state. The PUC agrees with Ma Bell’s contention that video over copper is just another form of data, and it is two-way video, and very different from traditional cable and thus does not fall under legacy franchise rules. This clearly is a big win for Ma Bell, and Connecticut has the right demographic profile to make T’s IPTV service work.

This bothers Connecticut Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal, who is quoted by Connecticut Post as saying, “Without government regulation and a universal service requirement, IPTV providers will cherry-pick the wealthiest and most accessible consumers, leaving the rest of Connecticut with no choice and higher costs.” The ruling can be appealed by him and others, and they have 45 days to do so.

The franchise reforms at a national level are also gaining momentum, thanks to some well placed greasers (oops I meant lobbyists.) UBS Research analysts say, keep an eye on the COPE (Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement) bill - this could change the game a little. It basically has an amendment built in for preserving network neutrality, and also lacks any special build out requirements for new video providers, aka the Bells.

Written by Om Malik on June 8th, 2006 with no comments.
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Back to the Future… for Broadcast TV

By Robert Young

Back in the 1970’s, the television industry began a long period of market realignment that was caused by the introduction of a disruptive innovation called cable TV. After decades of market incursion, cable’s impact on the TV landscape is now complete and its disruptive effect has reached its peak. The result is the emergence of hundreds of cable channels that now account for more than half of our total viewing time.

This realignment of viewer attention has been at the expense of the major broadcast networks (ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX), whose own collective share has declined from total domination of the TV screen to about 45% of viewership. Now, as the foundation of the television industry begins to tremble and crack again, this time from the disruptive forces of the Internet, the TV landscape is about to experience another tectonic shift. But in an ironic twist, a significant share of the TV industry is likely to unwind itself almost back to the days before cable, for reasons that will seem counterintuitive.

Five years from now, the TV market will no longer be segmented solely by major broadcast network vs. cable network viewership. Instead, the market will be further subdivided among viewers of linear broadcast programming vs. that of non-linear on-demand formats. Moreover, the on-demand segment will account for a steadily increasing share of total viewership. On the flip side, it’s equally important to note that the segment with traditional linear/broadcast programming (while declining) will continue to remain alive with its own significant share for quite some time. That said, within this linear/broadcast segment there will be a mini-disruption in the near term. To be specific, it is likely that most of the hundreds of channels we get today via our cable & satellite subscriptions will disappear and there will be only 10 to 20 “broadcast channels” left standing. Here’s why…

As just mentioned, overall viewership of linear/ broadcast programming will steadily decline. Such shifts in viewing patterns will cause collateral damage… that’s obvious, but here’s what may not be so obvious. The players that will get hit first and hardest will be the weakest of the cable channels. In other words, as on-demand programming takes share away from linear broadcast, it will be at the expense of all those niche-oriented channels that came into existence over the past few decades with the advent of cable… not the major broadcast & cable networks. These niche cable networks, many of which are barely treading water now, cannot afford to lose viewers for their linear/broadcast channels. If and when they do, it is highly likely that they will not be able to continue/renew their carriage on cable & satellite systems. The result: a steady procession of cable channels will start to disappear over time, at a rate that will be directly correlated to the increasing share of on-demand viewership. And the cycle will be self-fulfilling… as more and more channels go off-the-air, the lack of programming choice on broadcast will drive even more viewers to on-demand venues. And going back to my reference earlier of an “ironic twist”, the major broadcast networks will once again come to dominate the share of the linear programming schedule.

Now, this does not necessarily mean that all these cable networks will go completely out of business. Rather, many of them will be able to restructure and/or downsize, transitioning to a purely on-demand format, mostly via the Internet. The ones that already have relatively strong brands catering to specific niche audiences are the most likely to survive the transition. Even so, the shift will be painful and somewhat equivalent to a newspaper or a magazine having to give up its print distribution.

The disappearance of a large swath of cable channels will also have the secondary effect of disrupting the underlying business model of the cable & satellite providers. As cable channels are forced to shift away from linear programming, the only way cablecos will be able to preserve their content offerings will be through video-on-demand relationships. Without attractive VOD solutions, the cablecos will lose their content partnerships to the highly cost-effective and open Internet (which will be their major competitor regardless). This explains why companies like Comcast have been so aggressively pushing and deploying their VOD systems in the past year. Also noteworthy is that the changing landscape will also make the cablecos totally dependent on the major broadcast networks for their linear programming channels. Given all that, the business models of the cable/satellite providers will be subject to some very significant changes as their subscription model based on bundling channels comes under attack.

If the scenario outlined above proves to be a reasonable forecast of the future, the other set of players who are ideally positioned to win are the Internet TV ventures like Veoh and Brightcove. Unlike cable/satellite, they are not burdened with any market cannibalization or legacy programming issues. So with the freedom and ability to focus exclusively on the rapidly emerging on-demand segment of the market, particularly for branded programmers who cater to niche audiences, these startups can quickly become the lifeboats for sinking ships.

Robert Young is a serial entrepreneur who played a major role in the invention & commercialization of the world’s first consumer ISP, Internet advertising (pay-per-click ads), free email, and digital media superdistribution.

Written by Om Malik on May 22nd, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on IPTV and Online Video.

Video Franchise Battles - First Local, Then National

It is time to add coverage of the hyper local problems of broadband, video franchising, and other issues such as problems faced by municipalities. Patrick Hynes focuses on the battle between Cablevision and Verizon in the New York’s Long Island region. And if somewhere along the way, we find a success story, brilliant. Since I cannot be everywhere, it would need some help from the readers/community. If you are a citizen reporter, and can shed light to the issues involved, drop me a line, or a link. Any suggestions on how best to track it all would be welcome. - Om

By Patrick Hynes

While America loves an underdog, there is no real underdog in the telcos v. cable battles raging across the country and in Washington, DC. Nevertheless, it is hard not to cheer for the telcos. The cable companies have so abused their position in the market place over the years, many Americans are just fed up. I have likened the battle to a political campaign. The cable companies represent the incumbent and the telcos represent the challenger, albeit a well-funded one. In New York, the incumbent is getting nasty. Cablevision launched an aggressive, some would say dirty, campaign to keep Verizon out of Hempstead, a Long Island community of over 700,000 residents. Consistent with my political analogy, this battle featured a much-publicized negative ad.

Cablevision helped finance a television ad and a direct mail campaign that cleverly hinted that Verizon had “red lined” the map of Hempstead while deploying its FiOS product. (Cablevision didn’t actually say Verizon “red lined” for that would have been a crime.) In an editorial, Newsday said the smear campaign was” poisoning the debate” and the maps submitted to the city by Verizon “gutted their argument.” In the end, the city of Hempstead granted Verizon a franchise to compete for customers. As consultant Jeff Kagan told The New York Times:

What’s happening there in New York is an early curve of what’s going to be happening around the country in the next few years. … This is a new wave of competition. Basically the telephone and cable television companies are both rushing to offer the same bundle of services: television, phone, Internet and wireless. The sooner they do, the sooner prices will come down for all the customers.

And prices have already come down in the few California communities that have opened the door to video competition. University of California Professor Yale Braunstein released a study earlier this month in which he found “prices in the California cable TV market dropped 15 to 22 percent when the Cable giants competed with wireline paid- TV providers such as Verizon and AT&T.” The study was financed by AT&T, it should be noted, so take it with a pinch of salt.   The traveling road show now heads to New Jersey. Meanwhile, Verizon continues to lay fiber in Massachusetts, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.

What’s the end game? These local battles seem to be the proving ground for the war in Congress over national franchising. There is a mark up on the national franchise bill which risks being stymied by otherwise ancillary issues. These aren’t irrelevant or inconsequential concerns. But it is time Congress thinks about the consumers for once, and not the big industry players.

Patrick Hynes is a freelance writer from New Hampshire. He runs the blog the Channel changer

Written by Om Malik on May 10th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wired and IPTV.

AT&T Plans Satellite Broadband, WiMAX

AT&T is dead serious about broadband, and is expanding its range of broadband offerings. AT&T Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre outlined company’s future broadband plans at the Detroit Economic Club.

In the AT&T traditional local service area, these initiatives could help bring broadband to as many as 11.5 million additional homes and businesses, the company estimates.

The WiMAX and fixed wireless efforts from what I can see are still in the evaluation stage. (Sort of like what the old AT&T was doing except in two more states.) Some of AT&T’s new found religion could be attributed to some harsh business realities.

Written by Om Malik on May 8th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Unwired and IPTV.

I Want My Karaoke Channel!

Forget American Idol! -- now here’s something really important.

Interactive Television Networks, a leader in Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), recently announced the launch of The Karaoke Channel -- the first IPTV karaoke channel. A product of a three-year agreement between ITVN and Sound Choice, the leading karaoke music producer in the U.S., the 24/7 channel will feature thousands of individual song titles from Sound Choice, with titles spanning more than 100 years of music and including the biggest hits from every genre.

Get your vocal chords warmed up – it will be available in June.

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Written by VoIP & Gadgets Blog on April 28th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and IPTV and Home Entertainment and interactive television networks and the karaoke channel.

BrightCove To Open Service This Week

Brightcove, the television-on-web company that is also one of the Business 2.0 Next Net 25 start-ups, is going to open its service to all comers later this week. Jeremy Allaire, founder and chief executive of Brightcove, made this announcement in his keynote speech at the NAB show. For past six months, Bright Cove has been an invitation-only commercial preview. The service will be available for free. More details are likely to emerge on Wednesday.

Written by Om Malik on April 24th, 2006 with no comments.
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Is Network 1.0 also Network 2.0?

By Robert Young

As the debate and discussions reached a boiling point last week about the strategic implications surrounding the major TV networks and their bold moves to embrace the web, the big question that popped into my head was… where does this leave Google, Yahoo!, and all the other established web players who were counting on becoming major distributors of Hollywood media products?

For instance, by deciding to offer up primetime fare directly on their web site for free (with ads), did ABC just dis-intermediate the portals? If so, what does this mean for the fledgling Yahoo Media Group and Google Video initiatives, in terms of long-form, high-production quality content? My bet is that Lloyd Braun and Co are going to be busy contemplating “plan B”, and in fact working on “plan C”.

I find it telling that ABC chose not to include even their own affiliates, where local stations could have used their own web sites to stream episodes. As for Rupert Murdoch, while his Fox network did reach a revenue-sharing agreement with their affiliates, they also did not provision the affiliates with the ability to distribute shows on their own sites.

As the major TV networks increasingly place their programming on the web, what’s interesting is how little differentiation there is between the Yahoo’s of the world and the networks’ affiliates (e.g. when everything becomes a bit, the Internet is the great equalizer). It essentially becomes a game of who can offer larger audiences and better financial terms.

Wittingly or unwittingly, the major TV networks may be setting up their own affiliates to compete head-on against the major web portals (setting up your old distribution channel to compete against the new outlets is actually a smart chess move). The same competitive dynamics will also impact the traditional syndication market and home video/DVD distribution. Of course, a cynic could view all this simply as an stunt by the media companies to appease the stock market mandarins who have been baying like a pack of wild dogs.

But assuming that the broadcast networks have indeed turned over a new leaf, what should Yahoo et al do? In one sense the answer is simple… given that they already have the Internet audience, they can win the battle as long as they’re willing to put up the money (and Google certainly has the cash). But the reality is much more complex, of course, and the old distribution channels will fight hard. Either way, the major broadcast networks are looking at a chess board where they can’t lose… and they may end up proving that content is king after all.

Having said all that, there is one media player that stands out with unique leverage, and guess who that is. Yup, it’s Murdoch. With his ownership now of MySpace, he doesn’t need a Yahoo or a Google. This will give him tremendous leverage, and a significant comparative advantage, against all other networks as well as distribution channels, both old and new. Like him or hate him, call it luck or skill, his brilliance never ceases to amaze. I should also mention that the other media giant that’s nicely positioned, given the shifting strategic landscape, is none other than Time-Warner… their ownership of AOL may turn out to a major win after all.

Check out, MySpace versus networks via Alexaholic.

Robert Young is a serial entrepreneur who played a major role in the invention & commercialization of the world’s first consumer ISP, Internet advertising (pay-per-click ads), free email, and digital media superdistribution.

Written by Om Malik on April 15th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on IPTV and MySpace and Online Video.

HDTV Gone Wireless

Chipmaker Metalink which makes VDSL chips will show-off a new chip, WLANPlus that is based on emerging 802.11n standard at The National Show (NCTA), in Atlanta next week. The new chip will allow HDTV streaming wirelessly, the company claims. Several other companies are showing off these similar chips, even though the 802.11n standard is still far from being set. Folks from Ruckus were showing off their HD IPTV products last month, and have posted a pretty nice primer on the space on their blog. Ruckus had recently snagged a deal with Pioneer Telephone.

Written by Om Malik on March 31st, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on IPTV and WiFi.

Microsoft IPTV - Now For The Big Push

With TelecomNEXT, the newest telecom trade show going great guns in Las Vegas, the news is coming thick and fast. Rumors are flying about Microsoft making major announcement tomorrow regarding its Microsoft TV efforts.

Apparently, the Barons of Redmond have convinced Deutsche Telekom to sign-up for their IPTV offering. Microsoft spokeswoman said that the company doesn’t comment on rumors. Still, if you follow the crumbs, you can find proof.

Earlier this month, Alcatel, had made a big splash when it snagged T-Com contract for a broadband build-out in ten cities.

The Alcatel IP/MPLS-based portfolio will be a part of the platform for innovative services such as IPTV and interactive consumer services. Jacques Dunogué, Alcatel Executive Vice-President Europe & South remarked, “Alcatel has extensive experience in the network transformation required to deliver the next generation of integrated communications and entertainment services.”

Alcatel is Microsoft’s partner in IPTV business, and the two companies have worked together on many IPTV deployments. Microsoft IPTV has been much talked about, just like the white tigers of Sumatra, but remains as elusive as the big cats, when it comes to live deployments.

AT&T, British Telecom and Telecom Italia are some of the telecom giants who have signed up for Microsoft’s IPTV vision. British Telecom, infact has just announced final plans for its BT Vision TV service, and expects trials to begin shortly. Swisscom, despite previous setbacks is still on board.

I visited the Microsoft TV executives earlier this year and got some demos. While it worked in the “setting” the word on the street is that the scaling is still a work in progress. Ed Graczyk, director of marketing and communications for Microsoft TV recently said: “The second half of the year is when deployments will really take off.”

Worldwide forecast for IPTV subscribers by digital consumer market research firm The Diffusion Group seem to match Microsoft’s optimism for IPTV subscribers. The group predicts that by 2007, subscribers for IPTV will hit 8.9 million worldwide; by 2010, the number of IPTV subscribers should climb to 37.8 million worldwide.

Microsoft is going all out at TelecomNEXT with the entire IPTV executive team including Robbie Bach, making their presence felt in the Sin City. Bach is infact delivering a keynote and it will be fun, because he is pretty good. Of course since this Mix 06 thing is going on, maybe Chairman Bill will pop in? I expect a big big announcement from Microsoft.

On the flip side, what will Siemens do? The shame of losing a German customer after making a massive IPTV push, buying companies and what not? Maybe sell its communications business? - that’s the word is among the telecorazzi!

Written by Om Malik on March 20th, 2006 with no comments.
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The FTTH Update & IPTV Numbers

Mark Sue, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets has put together a great overview of the state of the fiber to the home market, and has thrown in a nice update on the IPTV deployments as well. In his estimate, there are about 6 million fiber-connected homes worldwide, up 140% from last year, and a majority are in Japan. James Enck, who is in town for VoN explained that is because NTT has adopted a scorch earth philosophy and is using fiber to snuff out pesky upstarts like Softbank.

Most of the other deployments, however are in the early stages. In China, China Telecom and China Netcom are conducting FTTH trials while in Hong Kong, Hong Kong Broadband, a company I have written about in the past is passing through nearly 1/3 of total homes with fiber. Only telcos in the Scandinavian countries, as well as the Netherlands and Magnet Networks in Ireland are building-out large FTTH networks. Instead, we are seeing a lot more action from the municipalities which are sinking fiber in the ground.

Back in North America, things are only getting started. Verizon is building-out an all fiber network. AT&T will use a combination of FTTN for overbuilds and FTTP for new builds, while BellSouth is building-out an FTTC network. Bell Canada is deploying a FTTN network and supplementing it with VDSL and ADSL2+ over the last 3,000 feet. Still, like Europe, North American action is around smaller telecoms, and munis, which are being aggressive in rolling out Fiber networks.

Since I have written about Asian IPTV numbers before, I am not going to go over that. Sue has sent me an update on the European IPTV deployments - which stand at about one million, and will grow to 4 million by 2008. Believe it or not, this damn IPTV thing is going to take a lot longer than people realize.

France Telecom has over 210,000 subscribers and Neuf has over 100,000 subscribers. In Italy, FastWeb currently has the largest subscriber base in Europe with ~350,000 subscribers. In Germany, DT is looking to have preliminary IPTV services up and running for the World Cup. In the UK, Video Networks already provides IPTV services to ~20,000 subscribers, while BT’s video launch will be available in the fall 2006. Elsewhere in Europe, Telefonica Spain is offering its Imagenio TV service and has about 220,000 subscribers according to our estimates. Austria Telekom just launched IPTV services in and around the Vienna area, while Swisscom’s Bluewin offering was delayed until summer 2006. Belgacom offers IPTV services to ~25,000 subscribers.

Written by Om Malik on March 16th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wired and IPTV.

Video iPod Makes IPTV A Non Starter?

A few months back, I had posted that instead of IPTV (the telco version of television streamed to your television), the downloadable television, despite being a dark horse, could upset the whole video ecosystem. And that was before Steve Jobs released video iPod, and did the Pixar deal to get closer to the glitterati. Thomas Nolle, writing for Network World says, “Steve Jobs took a giant step toward making IPTV a non-issue when he announced the Video iPod…..If consumers want portable, personalized, video experiences, will their as-I-want-it attitude carry over into their home-viewing patterns?”

What’s your take on this debate? You really think video iPod is a game changer? Or just another adjunct device for television as we know it?

Bonus Link: Light Reading report on FCC’s debate over video franchises held recently in Texas.

Written by Om Malik on February 12th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on IPTV and iPod.

Verizon Uses UPS To Sell FIOS

Apparently, Verizon is very aggressively marketing its FTTH/FIOS service to consumers by sending them second day air UPS letters. This whole FTTH and FIOS TV is cash money when el-cheapo Bells are spending the big moolah! However, there might be another angle to it. By end of 2006, VZ will have fiber in nearly 200 towns in New Jersey alone, which means some serious capital investments. (That clearly is not going down too well with the Wall Street, especially those in the ‘dividend’ and ‘quality-bond’ realm.)

Merrill Lynch crunched some numbers recently and pointed out that Verizon trades at a significant discount to AT&T’s3.3x EBITDA for Verizon versus 4.5x for AT&T on 2006E - because the market is taking a dim view of VZ’s wireline operations. This is a reflection of a very pessimistic view of VZ’s FIOS efforts, the research firm writes.

The basic difference is that Verizon is deploying an available technological solution, with an uncertain business case. AT&T is banking on technology development to support a more attractive business case argument. [Merrill Lynch]

At the end of 3Q 2005, Verizon had about 100,000 FIOS high speed customers, and the numbers must have received some serious boost during the 4Q 2005. The big metro deployments in cities like NY, Boston and Philadelphia (especially in high rise buildings) could help boost the number of Internet subscribers. But on the video side, it is slow going. The company seems to have video franchise deals with about 50 odd-munis, and is trying to get states to change the rules. New Jersey is particularly irksome and that “statewide franchise legislation” is becoming a political hairball.

Which brings me back to the UPS and aggressive marketing tactics…. Verizon really needs to show that it is on target to deliver the 20% adoption metric it has been talking up with the investors.

Written by Om Malik on January 22nd, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wired and IPTV.

Paris Mayor: Free Internet For All

The Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, believes in giving free access to the Internet and wants to push development of a city wide telecom network. His intentions were first reported in Nouvel Observateur, quite a serious newspaper. James Enck says, “The article refers to a city-wide network, and also seems to suggest that the Mayor has aspirations of offering free narrowband internet access and local telephony to residents of more modest economic means.”

The city has apparently launched a tender for the construction of this network, as per translation of the French language original. Instead of going for ADSL technologies, the city wants to build a fiber network. It is amazing to read this bit of news emailed by a dear friend, because France is one of the most competitive broadband markets in the world already. Folks like Free are simply changing the game in that country. Rodrigo recently pointed to me his latest post where Free has launched free TV streaming to the PC for its subscribers. “I guess now we are starting to see why we need high bandwidth in this country,” he writes.

According to some estimates, France has fallen behind UK in the broadband subscriber numbers. If you have interest in global broadband, please visit our Broadband Wiki and help us keep it up-to-date.

Written by Om Malik on January 9th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wired and IPTV.

AT&T aka SBC Rolls Out IPTV in San Antonio

The Wall Street Journal reports that company formerly known as SBC has started to offer IPTV service in San Antonio, Texas. “The company began marketing the service yesterday to several hundred consumers in its corporate hometown through direct mail,” the Journal says.

The service is kicking off with 200 channels, and apparently is based on Microsoft system. It is very much like traditional cable service, but will eventually support 1000s of channels, and do HDTV and other stuff like PVRS, stuff what cable providers already do. (Okay maybe not those 1000s of channels!) Anyway folks, if you are in San Antonio, and will be signing up for the service, please be kind enough to drop me a note on your experience, and how it really works.

PS: Despite my skepticism, I would like to do a hat tip to SBC for getting this out of the door.

Written by Om Malik on January 5th, 2006 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Connected Home and IPTV.

Watching Videos @ CES

2006 is going to be the year of IP video: from amaetur content on video sharing sites like vSocial to big sweeping efforts of BrightCove and the Regional Bell Operating Companies. What that means is that a whole slew of vendors are going to be aggressively hawking their goodies, hoping that they get traction.

Associated Press says and The New York Times agrees that at the CES there is going to be a lot of talk about video, and many companies will show off their wares, all in preparation for the good times that might (repeat) might be ahead. Broadcasting & Cable notes, “Programmers thrive when new distribution pipes open, but some TV executives cutting the deals say they are making it up as they go along.”

Still, the competition is fierce. The content owners might be able to make it up as they roll, but things are downright scary in the hardware world. There is so many television over IP companies out in the wild, as noted earlier, no one knows who is going to win. And each one has its own twist.

Take for example, Matrix Stream Technologies, a six-year-old San Mateo-based company that is about to introduce a H.264 AVC (advance video codec) Video on Demand and IPTV Set Top Box (STB) and PC Player capable of the highest of high definition (HD) signal formats in the 1920 X 1080 pixel resolution.

You can plug-in your broadband connection, and hook it to your HD TV and you are good to go. The set-top box, of course will be tied in to the backend system supplied by who else but, MatrixStream. This is clearly not a solution for those who want to offer plain old television system over their networks using the IP protocol.

Their new set-top box caught my attention, because of its Mac Mini like look and feel. But apart from the shiny good looks, it is hard to get a good read on the company. Matrix Stream makes a lot of claims but doesn’t reveal who its backers are, and who if anyone, is currently trailing their products.

The information from their media kit is generic enough to hint that they will be competing with everyone from Akimbo to Microsoft and anything in between. Anyway since they will be showing off the technology at CES, those of you who are out there might want to stop by at their booth, and give me your first hand assessment of the technology.

The company has just released MatrixStream PC Player which is available on Movie 99.TV It shows a lot of free television channels, mostly in languages I don’t understand. Try it out for yourself: I was a tad underwhelmed.

Written by Om Malik on January 2nd, 2006 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on IPTV.

Microsoft Carbon IPTV for the XBox 360 is real!

Microsoft Carbon
Microsoft Carbon for the XBox 360 is real. Microsoft Carbon is a rumored software add-on for the XBox 360 which would enable IPTV video playback. This, just after Slingbox also announced their IPTV offering called the SlingCatcher. Check out where I heard about it, which includes a video of Microsoft Carbon in action. "Now xbox lovers can enjoy episodes of their favorite television shows from the comfort of their wireless 360 controllers. They’ve added television into the menu in your dashboard."

Sweet!

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Written by VoIP & Gadgets Blog on January 1st, 1970 with no comments.
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