Bored with the regular fare on TV? Can?t catch that soccer match in the middle of your working day, but would still like to see it? Wish you could keep a tab on your mailbox without having to change screens? Maybe even check the incoming phone caller ID on your TV screen? Even as all eyes are riveted on the cellphone screen, there?s a quiet revolution happening on your TV screen that makes all these and more possible. Internet Protocol Television, or IPTV, is turning your living room into a communications command centre, with you calling the shots.

How IPTV works

Called triple play ? as it offers high-speed internet, television (video on demand and regular broadcasts) and telephone services, all over the same broadband connection, ? IPTV is superior to receiving television signals over the cable (and thereby DTH) since it provides a cleaner, high-definition picture in addition to allowing the user more interactivity with the television. Instead of viewing your favourite television show through broadcast waves, cable lines or through a satellite TV service, your TV is directly hooked into a broadband internet router and receives digital signals directly over the internet. With wireless, it?s called ?Quadruple Play? and grouped services (triple and quadruple) are called multi-play.

For the consumer, in order to receive IPTV, all he needs is a set-top box that decodes the IP video (sent by the service provider) into standard signals that are transmitted into his TV set. Alternately, he can connect a modem to his PC and access IPTV over the internet. That can throw open the door to a range of interactive services, including email, betting, games, shopping, information and even Internet access. Agrees Abhishek Kant, an Airtel subscriber, ?Since I use VPN and WiFi from home quite often, the configuration of my modem was slightly different from what it is in most homes. That created a little confusion, but we were able to finally configure Internet (with VPN), IPTV and voice telephone all over one single telephone line coming to our home. Digital convergence is really making sense now.?

At the service provider?s end is the TV and content head end where the TV channels are received and encoded. Also other content (videos) are stored at this head end.

Players in the fray

Already quite a few telcos are in the fray and more are readying for the battle. Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Ltd (MTNL) was the first one to offer IPTV services to its subscribers in Delhi and Mumbai. To subscribe to MTNL?s IPTV services, you have to pay Rs 999 as installation and activation charges besides Rs 199 as monthly tariffs. Currently video on demand is for free and 150 TV channels can also be viewed. ?We expect IPTV to be a great success, which is evident from the fact that we have already provided broadband services to more than 5,00,000 customers and the customer base is growing substantially with every passing day,? says MTNL CMD RSP Sinha. While in Delhi MTNL has around 500 IPTV customers, in Mumbai it has garnered 1100 customers. However, these numbers are just a fraction of its broadband subscribers (2.5 lakh in Delhi and another 2.54 lakh in Mumbai), indicating the market potential.

Bharti’s Airtel has soft-launched its IPTV services in Gurgaon in the NCR and plans to take it to other cities soon. ?We have been conducting IPTV trials in a thousand households in Gurgaon and are planning to launch by the end of the year. We will deliberately go slow, rolling out in the NCR region first in a phased manner and then targeting the other top six cities in the country,? says Atul Bindal, president, Airtel Broadband & Telephone Services (ABTS).

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd?s (BSNL) IPTV services, already available in Pune, will now be available in Bangalore and Kolkata from this Independence Day. Priced at Rs 250 per month, this service would be an enhancement of the broadband service with 100 TV channels covering all popular brands and Video on Demand (VOD), wherein one movie would cost between Rs 10 and Rs 50, depending on the demand. Bharti hasn?t yet determined the price package for its service. ?IPTV would be offered as a bundle package along with our voice and broadband services. The basket would offer attractive pricing on all the three services. Thus, our pricing would be attractive as compared to competing systems,? says Bindal. There are others waiting in the wings too, like Reliance Communications and Tata’s VSNL, who are expected to offer their version by next year.

What’s on offer?

Video-on-demand and time-shift TV, where a viewer can record a programme and see it later are what’s luring their first clients. Says Kant, ?The quality of transmission seems the same as the one being delivered by my cable guy. So that?s not going to be a reason for me to switch on the TV! The on-demand TV and recorded/ Timeshift TV might be interesting.? Agrees Bindal, ?On-demand content is geared to be the next evolution in television viewing for the Indian consumer, offering him the benefits of traditional cable television but with the added ability to let him watch what he wants and at his convenience.? He says while it is similar to what traditional cable television offers, the selection isn?t limited to movies or special titles. Everything on the screen, including television shows, is on demand.

Both MTNL and Bharti Airtel are looking at adding to the services on offer. Bharti Airtel will introduce movie ticketing and gaming once the service is launched formally, says Bindal. Adds MTNL?s Sinha, ?We expect that our recent launch of IPTV on the landline would find great popularity in Delhi and Mumbai markets where life is becoming faster day by day and people do look for entertainment like videos / gaming / video conferencing etc. on demand. IPTV also provides services like e-ticketing, access to information and maps.? The PSU telco plans to add features like reading phone caller IDs and text messages on the TV screen and CCTV in the next two to three months. ?We have been able to resolve various technical issues and more customised services will be available by the middle of this month when we plan to offer enhanced features,? adds Sinha.

And it is just the beginning, say experts. A January 2007 analysis from Frost & Sullivan of the Asia-Pacific IPTV market has found revenues were $353.4 million in 2006, with estimates of reaching $512.4 million in 2007. Growing at a compound annual rate (CAGR) of 37.5% (2006-2013), the region’s IPTV market is forecast to be worth $3.3 billion by the end of 2013. Countries like China, India and Australia are expected to be the high-growth markets by 2009. However, since it is broadband penetration that will drive the growth rates, much will depend on how many takers are there for internet services. ?IPTV is the next notable wave in the consumer telecom space and service providers are planning to leverage this new technology to offer high-quality interactive services to customers,? notes Frost & Sullivan senior research analyst Aravind Venkatesh. ?While revenues from fixed-line services continue to decline, IPTV is likely to reduce churn, increase ARPU (average revenue per user) levels, and generate revenue streams in the long term.?