Internet TV to Top $26B
After years of testing, Internet TV is ready to make the jump from the PC to the TV screen.
July 10, 2007
By Cassimir Medford
After languishing in pilot mode for more than five years, Internet Protocol Television, or TV delivered via the Internet, is finally ready for prime time, according to a report released Tuesday.
The IPTV market, which has already attracted significant investment from phone companies and venture capitalists, will grow from $779.2 million in 2006 to $26.3 billion in 2011, according to research firm iSuppli.
Popular new programming services such as high-definition TV, digital video recording, and video on demand, will drive some of the growth, according to Frank Dickson, the author of the report.
These programming services alone will generate more than $300 million in 2007, according to Mr. Dickson.
But perhaps the biggest single IPTV growth generator in terms of user numbers will be the 2008 Olympics, which will be held in Beijing next year.
“The largest number of IPTV subscribers will be in China, which has a fairly antiquated analog cable TV infrastructure,” Mr. Dickson said.
“With the Olympics, China is hoping to prove to the world that it is a highly developed country technologically, so we see a lot of IPTV deployment there,” he concluded.
Mr. Dickson expects China to add more than 20 million new digital TV subscribers this year and more as the Olympics approaches next year.
IPTV penetration has been spotty in most of Europe, according to Mr. Dickson, with significant adoption in France and Italy and slower adoption in countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom.
While China will lead the world in the number of IPTV subscribers for the foreseeable future, the United States will generate almost half of the overall revenue growth in the next five years, he said.
Once touted as a new way of watching TV that would engage the viewer interactively and generate new forms of interactive content, IPTV is now being marketed simply as a less expensive alternative to cable TV.
“That was part of the normal overselling of any new technology, but ultimately viewers just want to consume TV, not interact with it,” said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with JupiterResearch.
“Consumers don’t care whether TV is coming from a satellite dish, coaxial cable, or the Internet,” he said. “All they care about is that when they turn on the TV the content they want appears and it comes at a reasonable price point.”
redherring.com |
