Can Television Survive Broadband?

The probable answer is that you’ll still be using your television set, but it will have at least two programming connections -- the Internet and regular television. And if you think that it’s hard today making program choice within cable systems offering 500 stations plus, well, you ain’t seen nothing yet!

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After Asia-Pacific, Europe Is The World’s Second Largest Broadband Market With More and More Video Programming Being Streamed
Europe is witnessing the death of dial-up Internet with some countries probably eliminating it completely within five years, according to a new study by Strategic Analytics. And as broadband grows, so, too, are the video streaming programs on offer, whether from new start-ups or major players like the BBC and BSkyB.

With Broadband Penetration Rates Breaking All Forecasts Any Newspaper Site Not Using Local Video on Its Web Site Is Already Behind the Times
In the UK telephone operator BT announced it has reached its milestone of 5 million broadband clients a full 12 months early.

The London Bombings Prove that Delivery of Video Via Broadband Is A Powerful Reason to Visit Internet News Sites
CNN.com last month made video available for free on the advertising model, reversing its $4.95 monthly subscription model. Three weeks later it had its first really big international breaking news story -- the London bombings -- and CNN said it served more than 3.8 million videos on the first day.

Now On a Mobile Phone Near You: Visual Radio
If you’re in Finland Nokia’s new killer application puts pictures together with FM radio in a cellphone.

The Growth of Video on The Internet is Great News for Reuters and AP – They May Start, Finally, to See Some Sustained Profits From Their TV Operations
For Reuters Television and Associated Press Television News (APTN) the growing use of broadband and its increased demand for on-the-spot video is a need come true. Both companies have suffered severe loses over the years on their television video activities and new outlets were desperately needed. And it seems they are now here.

There’s A Good Reason Advertisers Are Flocking to the Internet – New Research Shows The Very Rich Are the Fastest Growing Web Users
High-income users – those earning more than $150,000 a year – are more active on the web than any other financial segment in the US, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. Men favor the financial sites; women like entertainment sites; and both spend a lot of time on travel sites.

It usually takes a personal happening to make the power of technology a true reality, and to this writer it happened over the weekend. It was a happy big occasion for the family – a son graduating from university in the US. Regretfully his father could not be with him on this most important of days, so the university offered the next best thing to parents and friends in such need – it video streamed the entire graduation ceremony on the world wide web.

Video streaming is really nothing new. It is becoming the norm, for instance, for companies to video stream their annual meetings so shareholders the world over can watch and listen. And afterwards when management talks with the analysts this is often covered, too. But that’s not really personal; it’s just the business community talking advantage of new technology.

But graduation day was different. When son’s name was called out and he made his walk to receive his diploma there was dad, sitting in front of his Internet screen in Geneva, Switzerland, watching the entire ceremony live and direct from the US, seeing son in his cap and gown with that stupid grin on his face being congratulated by the university president on what was undoubtedly one of the biggest days in son’s life.

It was not as good as being there (technology has yet to figure out how to give a real hug via the web) but it was certainly the next best thing. And sitting in Europe, watching live from the US with a picture and sound quality that seemed just as good as television, it brought home as never before the real power of the Internet, and the real power in particular of broadband.

Thinking of how many other such ceremonies across the world were being streamed at the same time, let alone all of the other video programming going on, and suddenly the future becomes clear, especially when the wife comments that it was a shame the picture was so small on the PC screen and a pity it wasn’t actually on the big screen TV. And that is surely where the real strength of video programming in the future will be. Technology, as usual, needs to play catch-up to marketing!

Interestingly that same type of programming interest equates with what many researchers are finding true about how users feel about all the various features now available on their mobile phones. Whereas the telecoms are working feverishly with many vendors to bring on-demand programming, news, information, sports and all the rest to the tiny mobile screen, users are saying what they really want their mobiles for are to transfer their own text, still pictures and video to one another. Peer-to-peer exchange of information is what people really want from their new technology.

And so when one thinks of all those local events that before never saw the light of day but that can start showing up on our television “box” via Internet transmission then that, rather than all the commercial programming that is/will be made available, will eventually win the day.

All the more reason, therefore, to pay attention to the technology currently underway to enlarge that pipeline into your living room. For instance, Teleste, a Finnish company, is working on providing broadband Internet via TV cable at 100 megabits per second, which is about 50 times faster than the average broadband speed now offered on many cable systems.

Such speed is also possible on fiber networks, the company says, but that is costlier to build.

And if you’re not already familiar with Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) then be on notice you’re going to become very familiar with those initials very soon. Spurred on by Microsoft (it wrote the IPTV software), telecom operators around the world see IPTV as their way to bundle voice, data, and video programming directly to your television.

Telecoms desperately need to change their business models. Many are losing some of their profit-making long distance telephony to voice over Internet technologies such as Skype and the prognosis is that will only get worse, not better. So how else to make money from the “pipe” they already have into our homes?

The answer is to turn telecom companies into communications AND entertainment companies. Not just provide the delivery pipe into the home but also the on-demand programming available upon it.

And if you think that is still far off then look only, for instance, to Italy where three weeks ago Telecom Italia began IPTV trials in Rome, Milan, Bologna, and Palermo. By autumn it hopes to be operational in 21 cities delivering not just traditional television, but also video on demand film, sports and music to some four million households.

By 2010 some 65% of Western Europe TV households are forecast to be on broadband, according to Informa Telecoms and Media, and IPTV will be installed in about 6% of Europe’s TV households.

The most important point about IPTV is its on-demand programming. The user decides when to watch what he/she wants when he/she wants and not according to a television station’s schedule.

And a study by Forrester Research says that those US TV households that have broadband Internet tend to spend fewer hours per week watching normal television than those homes without such access.

So, whether it’s the big “box” in your living room, or that “tiny” box (mobile phone) in your coat pocket, the telecoms of today are going to strive to be your communication and entertainment providers of tomorrow.

The only remaining real question is how much we are all willing to pay for the privilege?

Can Television Survive Broadband?

With more and more program makers eyeing broadband Internet as the overall video delivery preference within the next five years, and with broadband experiments on the verge of opening vast new pipelines into the home the obvious question is then what happens to television as we know it today?

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