Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) is a technique to distribute digital television services over the Internet using a set-top box (STB) for residential and business users. The need for such a service comes from the “Triple Play” concept, which has stimulated the development of advanced IPTV services. IPTV provides a potentially lower-cost solution over existing commercial-grade infrastructures if combined with multicasting technology. At the same time, it offers unique services not currently available, such as personalization, web/email access, and so on, marking a convergence of broadcasting and telecommunications technologies. Traditional cable or satellite television is an ancient method of broadcasting video programs, which has a push metaphor, i.e., operators decide the TV channels, TV programs, and the times. Viewers are just passive audiences, therefore unable to choose contents or time. At any moment, hundreds of TV programs are available off-air, and the operator must make an intelligent selection. People have rather small sets of interests or preferences over video contents, which are totally different from each other. Because of this, there are normally no TV programs matching a person’s current mood (Xiao et al., 2007). The public does not desire to be passive audiences in TV viewing. People are on the move frequently, such as business travels, sport events, and so on, and become physically far from access points. Currently, there are not deployed video-on-demand (VoD) systems. As a result, viewers must watch them at the broadcasted or streaming time. There is no way to pause, stop the video, fast-forward, or rewind. Videos want to be used in the same way as DVD/CD and VCR playback. In addition, the quality of TV services is degrading. Analog TV services suffer from multipath ghosts, noisy pictures, and video fading, which are even worst at the top and bottom (V), and sides (H) lines of the raster. Digital TV (DTV) signals can exactly reproduce the original content, but require the replacement of existing analog TV, VCR, and HDTV sets. It needs many years to fully replace it. It is important to note that the Internet has a quite different infrastructure from TV services. This is a point of advantage, because everyone can choose what they want to watch and when by taking three actions: select, click, and view (Peoples et al., 2006). Small CD/MP3-like contents traverse Internet infrastructures. Finally, streaming control functions are intended to pause, forward, rewind, slow motion, and so on video. These can be downloaded and saved in a PVR-like device, which can view them at any time. There is currently no way in traditional cable TV services to listen unsynchronized foreign language background music at any time. Internet-based TV services are available on personal computers (PCs) on DVD quality. Traffic is expected to grow 1000 times for streaming applications. Currently, there are only 100 Kb/s services. IPTV is not like this and requires either large screens with high definition (HD) or standard definition (SD) signals, and high-quality (HQ) audio.
The basic technology used to broadcast television (TV) programming is well-established. Typically, companies broadcast a continuous stream of programming throughout 24 hours each day, which is then received on a TV and displayed to the user. Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) operates on an entirely different workflow. IPTV is broadcast over a broadband internet connection and it is received on a remote screen. However, IPTV is specifically defined as TV services provided over an IP network and it is distinguishable from web TV services. IPTV services require considerable infrastructure to be established. In the simplest sense, everything needs to be digitized and the current advancements in technology are analogue. Digital TV needs to be encoded into a suitable format, layer-encapsulated and finally formatted through a suitable protocol before broadcasting. IPTV technologies rely on video compression technologies to reduce the file size of the original TV content.
Rapidly growing internet and advanced communication technologies have given birth to IPTV services. Users can watch TV programs on the computer in a much similar way to conventional TV sets. It is also possible to watch TV ordered by different applications over the internet. The most commonly used IPTV services are called OTT (Over-the-Top) services. Especially the youth prefer to use this type of service because they watch the favorite TV series and sports events whenever they want, without having to sit in front of the TV at that exact time (Peoples et al., 2006). IPTV is distinct from IPTV. IPTV requires more infrastructure to be laid in that a typical IPTV service has a Video server, Video Control Server, Content Delivery Network (CDN), LAN, and a Set Top Box. A conventional IPTV broadcast will look something like that in IPTV content must make its way to a Video server. From the Video server, content is streamed to the Video Control server. The Video Control Server should be responsible for encoding the Consequent Video stream. Finally, the Video control server sends the encoded stream to set-top boxes over the LAN (Xiao et al., 2007).
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In Europe, the provision of IPTV services is subject to multiple layers of rules and regulations, including EU Directives and enforcement of national regulations (SCHEUER, 2006). IPTV services are offered using terrestrial networks, mobile networks, and the public internet resulting in multiple regulatory bodies with competences in the area of IPTV services. Alone or in combination, national as well as European regulations offer a robust framework qualifying the recent advent of IPTV services in Europe. Those regulations cover various issues including access to and sharing of content, consumer protection, free competition, the protection of minors and of cultural diversity.
Regarding content issues, European regulators apply dissimilar rules in the 27 EU Member States. The Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) issued in 2007 and currently under review aims at a certain approximation of those rules. One criterion is the “country of origin principle” meaning the provider of an audiovisual service is regulated by the country it is situated in, eventually ensuring jurisdiction consistency. There is also an obligation for Member States not to impede or restrict the retransmission of radio or television programs coming from other Member States. The increasing interdependence between IPTV networks and existing terrestrial and satellite networks is an issue in the distribution of content and is not yet entirely solved. Despite consumer markets being potentially much broader, Europe still features a fragmented market of national regulations. In addition, Cable Service Providers that traditionally offer electronic communication over TV-wires should grant service interoperability with set-top-boxes and comply with network neutrality rules issues. As exempted from having universal television programs anyway, those providers risks the loss of a wealth of innovative services should the directive proposal for AVMS pass as is.
For a long time incumbent providers guarded the European IPTV market. In general, they have managed to capture a large market share, disrupt market development and prevent more advanced technology deployment, similar to difficulties met by other OECD countries. But policy makers’ being impatiently prepared to increase the level of competition in the electronic communications sector be sure the incumbents will be forced to open up and open entry conditions for other companies who will be able to investigate new business models, improving system and services by the use of different platforms and networks. It might eventually take time. IPTV providers in Europe can be roughly categorized into two according to the nature of businesses: the first is the incumbents like telecommunications companies which have been providing telephone, wireless, DSL broadband, ISP and interactive services; and the other is companies which have just entered the market with investment operated solely for providing services of IPTV (Peoples et al., 2006). While the former is a provider to offer integrated system/telco/VoD/ interactive services by adapting business model to current economic situation compatible with advantageous dedicated TDM platform, DRM, advanced server technology and/or content partnership, equipment makers will obtain order for bidirectional gateway under favorable conditions due to tight collaboration and encouragement from system providers. The standalone strategy would be effective for service providers, which are small or middle scale, in SCNews to launch their business as the setup costs is low. Nevertheless, there are fears that it would be difficult for them to embed themselves in the market.
These providers are facing tough competition in a saturated market and the local content providers find it a big challenge to compete against multinational corporations. The local providers are pressuring to pursue aggressive marketing tactics to ensure profit sustainability. At the same time individuality and flexibility is sought in order for the providers to avoid the threat of commoditisation. The approval chain of markets is also a challenge for the isolated service providers. Thus, the new exposure of IPTV services is more likely to go to providers which have more advanced channels and links to the manufacture or the firms that provide the headend solution. It is for these reasons that as integration and as accommodation of the mutual properties of the market chain will be needed, partnerships linking among content creators (service producers), network providers (service providers) and technology providers (platform providers) will become increasingly important. The channel operators in Korean market started preparing platforms to adopt IPTV offering on platforms, with the expectation that profit is to wane in the existing broadcasting business (Galperin and Bar, 2001). As of December 2005, thirteen companies have obtained interoperability a preliminary criterion for the start of IPTV service offering on the platform applying different methods, such as the investment in companies which are operating the network that has close ties with the channel provider or hold a board member of the platform provider accompanying switch or high meter router. As the site of competition shifts to services providing to secure consumer interest and enlarge the market, look to enter into alliances with promoters. Viewing illegal program forms is a responsibility of channel provider without corresponding measures from the platform provider or involvement in IPTV business.
As commonly recognized as a killer application capable of attracting and obtaining revenue (Xiao et al., 2007), the rise of IPTV triggers numerous research issues. The first known effort to provide a wider review on IPTV was made in 2007 on the technical elements and catering for the networking, transmission, and application layers. Nevertheless, fast development, remarkable changes in the telecomm and broadcasting industries, and the rise of new challenges have drawn interests for evolving analyses ever since. Due to its short deployment history and technology diversity, providing IPTV over widespread subscription services still faces many challenges, from QoS guarantees and bandwidth limitations, as well to infrastructure disparity and regulators.
It is a conglomeration of many different offerings, including newswipes, job photo browsing, finding out more information about a specific character, downloading captioned tutorials for certain games. It is probably the most packet rate intense web transaction known and there is little or no interest in parallel video sessions, webpages, audio streams, etc. It is now possible to immeadialty saturate the remote link (1:1) with an automated thousand of those type transactions. Due to the nature it is also one of the highest ‘maintenance’ web service in terms of ongoing development and support. Unlike streaming VOD service (where every user downloads a separate instance of the VOD file), IPTV utilizes a unicast method to distribute the multimedia data. This means that every household has its personal TV stream which is encoded at the head end and transmitted over the IP network. Given that the majority of the TV line up would rarely be watched, this utilization level of TV bandwidth is far less compared to other distribution methods. All indicators point to the reality that current ‘PSI network’ operators (cable, sattelite, etc) would encounter insurmountable bandwidth limitations should they attempt to switch over to dop internet distribution. Good theoretical and practical solution on combining the ISP network infrastructure and the Media content will likely lead to an even more dominate position by those companies who provide both of those services. Initial impressions that current systems would not be able to keep up with the evolving model of video distribution, especially in regards to the last mile infrastructure, still hold true.
In the context of IPTV, user experience (UX) and quality of service (QoS) are key issues in both disseminating the adoption of IPTV systems and attracting and maintaining an increasing number of subscribers. User experience is a determining factor in subscriber retention (Frnda et al., 2019). The main features of the user experience are the ease of navigation, the quality of the image, the speed of the response of the user interface, and the convenience of the program guides and electronic program guides. Also the satisfaction and convenience of the user are important factors.
High demand for personalized video content has led to new methods based on user preferences, and these personalized recommendations are the main means of marketing for subscribing users (Robitza et al., 2017). This is because it enables users to find videos of interest to them as quickly as possible from the vast amount of available video content. Recommendations provide a service that enhances user convenience, supports diversity, and increases interest in video content. Applying the recommended personalized contents to the IPTV service is believed to help attract and maintain subscribing users.
QoS metrics should be chosen carefully. In addition to parameters such as buffering time, resolution, and reliability, key QoS aspects of the network level should be taken into account—from the point of view of the network provider, the latter is as relevant as the perceived QoS at the application level. In order to take into account metrics at the network level, it is necessary to somehow couple them to the lower-most layer which is monitored by network operators. To facilitate this, parameters that are available through active and passive measurements at the network level are of interest. These parameters are related to video session initiation, data transfer, and session termination. Measuring such parameters enables the service provider to monitor and manage the network more effectively, assess end-users’ experienced quality, and support the negotiation of SLAs with the operators. Providing an accurate end-to-end QoE assessment is challenging because the networks in the end-to-end path are not necessarily under the control of the content provider. In IPTV, for example, the QoE depends on the whole chain, starting at the point video is produced and ending where it is visualized. This complexity is common in many other domains, such as streaming video or voice over IP.
Content acquisition and licensing is seen to be tougher in the emerging IPTV sector than in pay television (Peoples et al., 2006). It reflects the difficult time new entrants have in securing rights to the full gamut of diverse programming needed to round out their content offering. To start, it is exclusive content that attracts customers to a particular service and keeps them there, so telecommunications operators are defensive in their licensing deals, signing up the cream of the content financiers. That means the price rises and the degrees of difficulty are increasing for the smaller players coming through. The best strategy, therefore, is to do things sooner rather than later. This means investments in an electronic program guide or an interactive TV interface, or to multimedia servers if an investment of roughly nine billion dollars is on the cards over the next five years. Second, research supplies essential leverage in content deal-making. It is essential to understand the pressures affecting the large content financiers and distributors. Again, deals to provide exclusive content will generally secure the vast majority of the most attractive content. It is important to obtain a strategic advantage in such deals as opposed to having to deal with content arm’s length on a case-by-case basis. Through analysis of the world’s largest broadband access provider and largest DSL carrier from. From the point of view of IPTV start-ups, it is ultimately important to realize how regional licensing agreements affect the European market, a market that depends heavily on cross-border content rights. Hence, a more focused strategic investment in a smaller library of quality content is more likely to build a sustainable business. Content aggregators and distribution deals are crucial to the remaining start-ups, which need to understand that the odds against securing the keenly sought after “big” deals are outweighed significantly by the benefits of enhanced leverage and market presence through a library of content encompassing a broader range of genres and a larger volume of hours. In light of the risk of obsolescence due to technology convergence and continuous competition from new entrants and existing industry players alike, ongoing investment is advised. Larger companies entering the sector have a number of inherent advantages. It is crucial, therefore, that unparalleled viewing quality, pioneering content relationships, and rapidly growing subscriber bases are secured quickly. Moreover, strategic partnerships with established media companies can be crucial to ensure the continued success of new entrants (Galperin and Bar, 2001). In order to acquire a critical customer mass within the shortest time frame, it is crucial to consider global third party content libraries and avoid wasting implementing time on content that requires a wide range of expensive and lengthy negotiations. The question, however, is how such libraries can be secured in an environment where exclusive content deals between platform operators, major national, and international content financiers and distributors prevent third-party entrants from entering a particular market. Investment in original content provides an interesting counterpoint in content strategies for new IPTV operators. Broadcasters have traditionally commissioned 39% of the total hours of original programming, equating to a considerable time difference from those broadcasters who prefer to acquire the majority of their programming.
First came static, then came video on demand (VoD), then came pay-per-view. And with the introduction of internet broadband services, the dawn of internet protocol television (IPTV) services is upon us. Technological advances, in particular at the intersection of telecommunications and audio visual technology, have made it possible for telecommunication providers to compete head-to-head with broadcast networks. Among the first was the French telecommunications corporation Free, which started offering a limited number of television channels to their existing customers in 2003. Since then, IPTV services have progressively settled down as one of the main attractive features of telecommunication providers across Europe (Germany, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, etc). IPTV offers two main services. On the one hand, it delivers any of a vast number of television channels to subscribers, replicating the user experience of free digital terrestrial television (DTT) and cable networks. On the other, it compliments this service with an enormous VoD platform (in some cases, networks also offer other internet services such as web browsing or VoIP telephony services). Therefore, we could say that the main technological advantage of IPTV over traditional broadcast networks is that it multiplexes television channels with the regular internet broadband as a way to enrich the television experience of viewers at home or on the go (Nilssen, 2008).
The European IPTV network is monopolistic in nature in most cases, as a telecommunication provider is usually the only player in the industry offering this kind of service. This links to the competition between firms because the television industry is one of attention, where many alternate or substitute media compete for viewer attention (print and radio, for example). Competition is typically modelled through a combination of static consumption behaviour (averaging the outcomes over many opportunities) and a flow representation of attention, typically displaying low-attention and high-attention regimes.
The transformation of the traditional multimedia over Internet Protocol (IPTV) system to the recent years and its future trends are explored. The history, architecture, and interoperability of the IPTV system are reviewed. Following this, a detailed and critical examination of the emerging issues and innovations in IPTV technology is conducted to better understand the future direction of this technology. The most important issues and innovations are grouped on: (1) Media delivery technologies; (2) End-user devices; (3) Content type and user interaction; (4) Network technologies; and (5) Privacy and Security.
For plain television viewing, the quality of the video image and audio are very paramount. Any disturbance in sparkle, harmonics, electronic noise, or sound will lead to a very unpleasant sensory experience. With the arrival of the ever-increasing broadcasting and broadband transmission speeds seen in many places in the globe, streaming technologies result. Recently, the advent of MPEG-4/H.264 and VC-1 allows the good quality delivery of high definition (HD) video. The need for sensing technologies is probable in the upcoming years to monitor instantaneously media delivery quality, in a way equal to the way enhances broadcasters use of Ordinances to ensure that transmitted audio and video quality is in agreement mutually in rigorously specified values.
The invention of the exoelectronic digital net offered a blankement for the emergence of numerous devices such as the iPad and blackberry. Inbuilt gateway tables pave the way for collapse of broadcast and exercise. One of the key services IPTV providers must placate is video on demand, particularly when launched in 3D formats. Another innovation would be to move IPTV to the field of trudigital survision. Developments like lightning for increasing events may also be foreseen.
Since French provider Free first launched DSL-based television services in 2002, IPTV in Europe has followed a rapid growth path. In many other countries additional network infrastructures had to be realised to offer similar services, while in a number of others investments are still ongoing. Growth was at first mainly shape in terms of number of providers and countries but in the last year 2 new dynamics appeared. First, well-financed aggressive entrants start acquiring smaller providers in an effort to quickly become a serious player in one or several markets. Second, and most importantly, a structural change of the market. In parallel to the first dynamics, pan-European incumbent fixed telecommunication providers have entered the scene using their domestic infrastructure to deliver television services throughout the EU.
Looking forward the future development of the IPTV landscape in Europe will depend on a variety of factors. Expectedly, regulation will play a significant role in shaping the rules for competition, fiscal, spectrum allocation and content access. Progressive consolidation might occur within the boundaries of each country driven by natural competition and market saturation. Partnerships between different national incumbents may foster the expansion of corresponding corporate providers. On the other hand, partnerships between different providers with complementary assets may also emerge as a means to better compete. Outside the EU, in those countries where new coming network operators are already large providers, significant investments may lead to the provisioning of IPTV even if up to now investment has mainly targeted wireless technology. Despite all these future developments and the uncertainty regarding technology trends, it can be safely concluded that IPTV services in Europe are here to stay. The success of those depends on the providers’ ability to continuously and rapidly transform assets, partnerships, products, pricing, additional offering, market/tv research; in order to follow and shape consumer behaviour, capture successful business models, adapt to internet and mobile technologies, and similarly build technology barriers to protect/leverage risky strategies.
References:
Xiao, Y., Du, X., and Zhang, J. “Internet protocol television (IPTV): The Killer application for the next-generation internet.” 2007. [PDF]
Peoples, C., Dini, P., McClean, S., Parr, G., and Black, M. “Bringing IPTV to the Market through Differentiated Service Provisioning.” 2006. [PDF]
Randal Ray, T. “Improved IPTV channel change times through multicast caching of pre-selected channels.” 2014. [PDF]
SCHEUER, A. “Traditional paradigms for new services? : The Commission Proposal for a ‘Audiovisual Media Services Directive’.” 2006. [PDF]
Galperin, H. and Bar, F. “Open Access beyond cable: The case of Interactive TV.” 2001. [PDF]
Frnda, J., Nedoma, J., Vaňuš, J., and Martinek, R. “A hybrid QoS-QoE estimation system for IPTV service.” 2019. [PDF]
Robitza, W., AHMAD, A. R. S. L. A. N., A. Kara, P., ATZORI, L. U. I. G. I., G. Martini, M., Raake, A., and Sun, L. “Challenges of future multimedia QoE monitoring for internet service providers.” 2017. [PDF]
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