iPlayer Exec: The future of TV is IPTV..

Stuart · 19-03-2008, 14:29

Second attempt at posting this.. Got to the end of the previous attempt and my browser restarted..

Anyhow, the BBC Exec Anthony Rose has said that he thinks that the future of TV is via On Demand systems such as iPlayer..

"In ten years it would be surprising if television wasn't all over IP," was what he actualy said.

Now: I can see the advantages for us.. No more remembering to set your recorder to record it. No more hoping that your V+/Sky +/Freeview PVR didn't crash halfway through the opening titles, or at the most dramtic moment. Of course, the main way of watching of IPTV systems (at the moment) is via a computer. Not everyone is happy doing this, but if it takes off, I'd be suprised if someone didn't develop and integrated IP Digital TV or STB.

The ISPs are rather nervous of the idea though. Their business models are based on the assumption that people won't be using a lot of bandwidth a lot of the time.

However, the BBC has a solution for this. Throw an awful lot of money (tens of millions, hundreds of millions or more) at the problem.

What the iPlayer team would like to do is install servers with dedicated links back to the the BBC in each ISP's network. Each server would cache content locally, and presumably, larger ISPs would have more servers. The advantage for the ISP of this system is simple. Cost. Plusnet has reported that their bandwidth costs have doubled since the introduction of the iPlayer streaming service.

Of course, unless the BBC let them use it, I suspect the other broadcasters will complain.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03...very_networks/

Druchii · 19-03-2008, 15:23

Sounds like a fantastic idea, and hasn't something like this been done before for other types of content, or at least been suggested, for example with popular BitTorrent files? (Such as the Ubuntu ISO etc...)

Stuart · 19-03-2008, 16:16

Well, the idea of local mirrors isn't exactly new (in fact, virgin uses mirrors already). First time a broadcaster has talked about establishing it's own network for distribution to the isps though.