The word TV could be misleading, since the IP and the traditional TV will substantially be different, because different IS the transport of content and different IS the substance of content.
IPTV will be similar to the traditional TV in the sense that will be a display of content prepared and sent from a central server to many “clients”.
The servers of course can be millions and the “clients” billions.
In this it will be different from any P2P or “search and download”.
There will be a schedule and the audience will choose the more suitable time to connect in order to have the wanted content.
Till now not so much different from traditional TV.
But what will IPTV mean as improvement compared to the traditional TV?

1) Footprint. Any Producer theorethically from any part of this world can reach any consumer on any country of this world.
Traditional TV and Satellite TV are restricted to a limited footprint coverage.
This will have a huge imoprtance, because very specialized programs and content will find the reason and meaning to exist.
And specialized content means specialized producers.
While in a restricted area is difficult to find the minimum number of listeners and viewer of certain programs, on a large scale like the one offered by the full world footprint, it will be easy to find the minimum number that allows enough revenue for the broadcasting of a transmission .

2) Low Cost. The Internet as a tranportation way can beat any other for cost and availability. Can beat also any other as possible customers’ number.
Internet capacity and traffic are growing rapidly.

3) High quality pictures and music. Also magnetic storage capacity is growing rapidly and that is the right direction of IPTV.
More than a low bandwidth streaming it will be a high quality downloading.
Download when it is broadcasted and store it to see later. Just any TV transmission.
Displays are improving slowly, but improving.
And with them the need of high quality videos and audios.
You cannot display a low quality movie on a high quality display.
And if you are used to enjoy good quality music and videos, you simply cannot enjoy a tiny screen and bad resolution…

4) Interactivity. Internet delivery is likely to facilitate evolution of TV (HDTV).
And the most important feature will be the interactivity. (The real interactive TV, …)
Also commercials will be different.
More as “movies as commercials” than “commercials in the movies”.
The customer wants to be entertained and be an active part of the enertainment.
This is quite clear if we look at the type of entertainment most popular among Internet users: video games, emailing, forums, chat lines.
In a society which kills individualism, where individuals are seen as consumers, where socializing gets everyday more difficult, the Internet is the new mean to regain one own’s identity, one own’s share in the game, in the communication.

On one side what is called “long tail” and on the other side the possibility to interact give the consumer the voice he has lost with the other entertainments, one way means: traditional TV, Radio, Cinema.
IPTV will win in the short run, because it is the answer to the demand of the individual of today.
It will be many things, but the most valuable and important will be giving space to the single man on the road and in its own way the real democratic dlivery of human production…

Since the rates of change are:

Will it beat Internet Time?

Read the original here:
What IPTV will be.

IPTV is the concept of using TCP/IP as a transport for digital television, usually so that it can travel on the same physical infrastructure as already existing IP traffic. The next big thing in television could be a technology borrowed from the Internet. IPTV (the ”IP” stands for Internet protocol) will let users choose from a vast variety of video entertainment, available on demand through a simple piece of wire. Telephone wire, to be exact, because phone companies — not cable TV firms — are leading the way.

Cable companies could adopt IPTV technology as well. But for telephone companies the technology offers the first chance to sell TV services. It’s also an opportunity for Microsoft Corp., which is providing much of the underlying technology, to become as powerful in entertainment technology as it is in software. IPTV could shake up
the cable industry in the same way that voice-over-Internet phone systems have roiled SBC’s own voice telephone business.
Already, about a million people use IPTV systems, mostly in Hong Kong and Italy.

In related television news, it looks like the squeeze play is underway against the satellite industry. The telcos, such as AT&T, have generally partnered with a satellite company in order to offer television service. Now that they’re getting into the game themselves, these partnerships are dying. Pressure is also coming from the cable companies, which are getting onboard with Cablevision’s plan to move the DVR into the headend.
This kind of pressure from the cable companies, combined with the price war which could ensue between cable operators and the telcos, will certainly make it harder for satellite to compete over the next few years. Whether they can carve out a niche and remain a viable proposition remains to be seen, though it should be noted that satellite is not sitting still waiting for the axe to fall. DirecTV, for instance, has been pondering plans to roll out broadband services of its own, and satellite can still claim to offer a higher-quality picture than cable (in most cases). IPTV, though it could spark a price war with both services, won’t be coming to most cities for some time, so satellite should have a few years of breathing room before the squeeze is on in earnest.

Read more from the original source:
The outbreak of IPTV’s war

Zodiac Interactive and Skyworks Partner on Advergames – April 23, 2007

Zodiac Interactive and Skyworks Technologies, Inc., today announced a partnership agreement to design, develop and deploy dual-platform Advergames for online and set-top box distribution.

View post:
IPTV STB Advergames

TANDBERG Television and TSN Bring Interactivity to the Canadian Football League – September 7, 2006

TANDBERG Television today announced an expansion of television interactivity into Canada through a deal with TSN. TSN will launch a new web-based synchronized interactive television application to engage viewers in the competition on screen and enhance TSN’s programming of the Canadian Football League this season.

Read more here:
Interactive Television – Sports

eSports Media group and Octshape join forces together with Radio Inside The Game delivering live streaming from the NGL finals – August 25, 2006

The event is held at Games Convention in Leipzig Germany which is the largest games expo in Europe. Expectations are high, where they are expecting more then 150.000 people to attend the event. eSports Media group and Octoshape have colaborated earlier in similar activities during a open beta test for the WEG masters event in China earlier this year, that was streamed live on www.esport.org.

Originally posted here:
Live Streaming IPTV