The Open IPTV Forum is working towards an end-to-end specification to allow any consumer end device, compliant to the Open IPTV Forum specifications, to access enriched and personalized IPTV services.

As a consequence of this initiative the following first important results have been achieved: The first version of the Service and Platform Requirements document, for both Managed and Open Internet models was released in the autumn of 2007. This document was followed recently by the first Architecture specification.

A new white paper, Accelerating the Video Internet, details the challenges the Video Internet is creating for ISPs and content providers. It also looks at how technologies such as P2P caching can help. Here’s the executive summary from Accelerating the Video Internet. (Copyright 2008 by PeerApp Ltd.; used with permission of PeerApp Ltd.)

The Internet is evolving rapidly to a platform for publishing and sharing multimedia content, mostly notably video. Content publishers – from well-known brands such as NBC and Major League Baseball to ‘geeks and grandmas’ on YouTube – are pushing terabytes of video over the Internet, and consumers are consuming it whenever and wherever they want it, from whatever device is convenient.

By Alexander Cameron, Managing Director, Digital TX Ltd.

The very first bandwagon that new proprietors of digital media platforms tend to jump on once they have made the quantum leap of understanding that IPTV is about entertainment, not infrastructure, is that they want movies. Lots of them. Hollywood's best. Everything they can get their hands on. Viewers will see their fantastic movies and come running in their droves to the temple of consumer indulgence they have built.

By Alexander Cameron, Managing Director, Digital TX Ltd.

There's a secret many people in the IPTV/VoD industry don't want you to know. Setting up an IPTV network is actually incredibly easy. In fact, almost anyone can do it. But if you knew that, you'd build your own and no-one would make any money by selling you proprietary products with huge mark-ups.

IPTV networks are basically intranets, only the web browser isn't on a PC, it is on a set-top box. If you've set up an intranet or public website, you can set up your own IPTV network and do what you want with it. You don't need massive and expensive servers, specialised set-top boxes or overly large development teams working with complex software. With the right hardware and software, it should take you less than a few hours.

But why would you want to build your own?

Maybe you could, and/or want to:

• Create an internal TV system for training, advertising or information display;
• Create an IPTV showcase for your clients so they can visualise opportunities;
• Evaluate current IPTV technology without massive expense;
• Convert your existing client websites and applications to IPTV versions;
• Cross-train your web developers so they have IPTV skills;
• Simulate a real IPTV network to test applications and ideas;
• Put your products and services on an IPTV demo platform;
• Build a great new idea or application that would work well on IPTV;
• Integrate your current web-based systems into an IPTV environment (e.g. VoIP)

Click through to read the entire article or visit http://www.iptvworkshop.co.uk/ to sign up for the workshop that covers all you need to know about IPTV in a single day. Mention code TVON2006 for a 10% discount.

A new white paper titled "Creating the Connected Home: The Debate over Home Networking Standards" presents a comprehensive examination of the current options for distributing IPTV and other high-bandwidth content in the home. The report was prepared by broadband solutions provider Actiontec Electronics and can be downloaded at no cost at http://www.actiontec.com/company_info/press/index.php.

Understanding the New World of Television 'Broadcasting'

IPTV, short for Internet Protocol Television, is a new method of delivering and viewing television programming using an IP network and high speed broadband access technology. More than simply a new distribution and playback method, IPTV is poised to create an entirely new mindset about the television experience. Whereas current terrestrial broadcast television is the same content sent continuously to all consumers’ homes, IPTV removes the fixed television schedule. Similar to how information on the Internet can be downloaded and viewed at any time, IPTV enables television programming to be available whenever each individual consumer demands it. In this way, each household can create their own custom content and viewing schedule.

There are vast amounts of personal digital content – photos, audio and increasingly video files – that exist in homes around the globe. Billions of these types of files are in stored computers, but rarely shared or seen due to the inconvenience of gathering people around a computer. However, several factors are converging to fundamentally change this paradigm. Increasingly, more and more consumers will find it just as easy to show digital photos to friends, play audio files and download television programming in their living room. Enabling this reality is Networked Digital Television (NDTV). Very simply, NDTV is a television able to accept digital broadcast formats, decode multiple audio and video file types, and connect to a personal computer or the Internet through a wireless or wired network connection.

Alex has once again put out an intelligent paper that explains the floodgate that is now bursting with the Internet becoming a distribution medium for content. Will content owners change their historic ways? Will P2P networks continue to grow?

We at TVover.net know exactly how right Alex really is. Based upon traffic from our Internet TV directory, we've been witnessing millions of people over the last week looking to watch the World Cup online. There are only a handful of channels out there (ESPN360, BBC, etc.) as FIFA's broadcasting rights are pricey and limited to geographic areas. Where does the average consumer turn to? All the P2P video broadcasting networks.

Take the time and definitely enjoy the thought-provoking read for some interesting discussions.

By Alexander Cameron, Managing Director, Digital TX Ltd.

The textbook says content is king, and that saying is something every telco and ISP worldwide is contemplating after realising that if they throw enough technical people at the IPTV infrastructure problem they can put a TV network together. But putting the wires in doesn't make people flock to your service like broadband or telephony does. TV is not just a whole new ballgame but a massive leap of competence and faith. To attract customers, you need good content, and getting it is no afterthought – there are far too many IPTV projects alive in the world today where content is seconded or laughed off. It's a very deadly mistake.

It's often easy to forget the humble beginnings of content owners, but a good place to start is with ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) and the BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated), both created just under a century ago to protect the rights of musicians, similar to the UK's PRS and MCPS. Before the 1920s, people didn't pay for entertainment like we do today – radio stations broadcast performers live without paying them. Radio (or the "wireless") changed everything.

During wartime ASCAP members (predominantly musicians) boycotted the radio as the industry had become motivated to have their assets protected and paid for. Slowly they came to rely on the new medium until it formed the very backbone of their industry, once they were able to be compensated for their work being played on it. History repeated itself with vinyl, cassette tapes and internet P2P piracy today.

But this time content's kingdom is crumbling. Right before our very eyes, slowly and gently.

By Alexander Cameron, Managing Director, Digital TX Ltd.

The government had its heart in the right place in consolidating all the major communications agencies into one. Broadly speaking, Ofcom has done relatively well, whether their palace of a reception area cost half their yearly budget or not. LLU lines are growing rapidly, our digital television market is the most developed in the world, and a sensibly conservative attitude to new technologies is being enforced. Generally the regulator has been sensitive to commercial interests, but it could do so much more.

Click read more for the rest...

Additionally...Alex is now offering a great value one-day workshop course on IPTV and Video On-Demand (VoD) specifically for web and media professionals. It can help you get up to speed on the latest technologies, content deals, operators and applications across the world, and offer immense value in identifying both new opportunities and threats for your business and personal career. If you would like more information, call Alex on 07986 373177 or email iptvworkshop@digitaltx.tv. Readers who quote this publication as their source will receive a 10% discount on the course fees.

By Alexander Cameron, Managing Director, Digital TX Ltd.

If you're a survey junkie, you no doubt love the sheer onslaught of silly press activity that's been happening recently in technology world. IPTV, the all-healing panacea, is so hot almost everyone wants to do it despite not having given a lot of thought to the real delivery issues that it will involve for them. The most absurd surveys were conducted by Harris and Accenture – both offering contradictory results that weren't a lot of help to anyone.

Click read more for the rest...

Additionally...Alex will soon be offering a powerful one-day workshop course on IPTV and Video On-Demand (VoD) specifically for web professionals. It can help you get up to speed on the latest technologies, content deals, operators and applications across the world, and offer immense value in identifying both new opportunities and threats for your business and personal career. If you would like more information, call Alex on 07986 373177 or email iptvworkshop@digitaltx.tv. Readers who quote this publication as their source will receive a 10% discount on the course fees.

If you haven't came across this already, here is some insightful and entertaining reading material for the weekend.

By Alexander Cameron, Managing Director, Digital TX Ltd.

Time and time again, industry talk comes back to what the one "killer app" will be for IPTV as a platform. Most assume it will be video on-demand, as the historical business case has always rested on the fact that consumers love being able to have video whenever they want it, and subsequently rack up enough in their bills to justify the expense of rolling it out. The truth is IPTV has far more killer apps than that, just as it has share of things that should never raise their ugly heads above the proverbial parapet. In this article we explore some of things that as a next-generation technology IPTV can offer that no other platform can come close to. And unfortunately, we also touch on the blacklist of horror that anyone caught being enthused about would need to be taken out and shot for.

Click read more for the rest...

Additionally...Alex will soon be offering a powerful one-day workshop course on IPTV and Video On-Demand (VoD) specifically for web professionals. It can help you get up to speed on the latest technologies, content deals, operators and applications across the world, and offer immense value in identifying both new opportunities and threats for your business and personal career. If you would like more information, call Alex on 07986 373177 or email iptvworkshop@digitaltx.tv. Readers who quote this publication as their source will receive a 10% discount on the course fees.

John Withnell, a seasoned professional in interactive TV services and Managing Director of Long Dog, has published a paper entitled Interactive TV Services for IPTV. The document provides a high level look at interactive services and how they can help the growth of IPTV. Check it out.

Once again, Alexander Cameron, the Managing Director of Digital TX Limited, has given us a rare opportunity of publishing a white paper that would normally run for thousands of dollars. The latest white paper, entitled "IPTV: The Great Content Adventure," is about acquiring content for IPTV and video-on-demand services, and explores how ISPs and content owners can work together to build compelling new interactive entertainment services.

Our take: The white paper is an eye-opening first hand look into content acquisition and the issues surrounding it.

But don't just take our word for it, click through to read the entire white paper or download the PDF version.

Alexander Cameron, Managing Director of Digital TX Ltd, brings us a fresh perspective on how ISPs need to approach IPTV and related technologies to be successful in the unique and crowded UK market. Cameron offers up his experience working with industry leaders in this free white paper.

"Most companies researching video-centric technology have spent so much time in perpetual loops second-guessing themselves that they have not been able to look past the basic models of deployment to help understand the possibilities the technology empowers. In layman’s terms, they’re so worried about viability that they haven't used their imagination to think of compelling applications and their constituent parts."