Geneva-based standards organisation Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) Project is one of the bodies currently hard at work developing an open-based standard for Internet Protocol TV (IPTV). The result of the Swiss group’s efforts to standardise and enable interoperability within various IPTV solutions is the DVB-IPTV — a collective name for a set of open, interoperable technical specifications that facilitate the delivery of DTV using IP over bi-directional fixed broadband networks.

The initial phase concentrates on the interface between the IPTV set-top box (STB) and the IP-based home network. DVB’s IPTV initiatives can be divided into three broad areas: STBs and PVRs on IP networks: The definition of appropriate standards to facilitate the automated connection and configuration of an STB connected to an IP network. This extends to how MPEG transport stream-based services are encapsulated in an IP network, and covers service discovery & selection (SD&S), broadband content guide (BCG), remote management and firmware update.

 Home networking: The definition of an appropriate sub-set of existing standards for a DVB home network (based on IP). DVB’s home network specification will be based on the DLNA/UPnP guidelines where possible.

 Additions to the DVB-MHP middleware specifications: To allow iTV applications running on multimedia home platform (MHP) to use the resources available in a DVB-IPTV environment.

 Also, DVB says, key specifications already published include: TS 102 034: Transport of MPEG-2 TS-based DVB services over IP-based networks.

 TS 102 539: Carriage of BCG information over IP.

 TS 102 824: Remote management and firmware update system for DVB IP services.

 The group adds that commercial IPTV networks have been rolled out to a varying extent in several countries, with many operators using non-standardised proprietary technologies to deliver services, including TV, interactive content and video on demand. DVB expects IPTV to become an even more popular means of delivering such services to the home, particularly when offered in conjunction with other forms of broadcast network, whether terrestrial or satellite.

 With the publication of the first set of DVB standards for IPTV, services launched can benefit from the advantages of open standards. The industry has particularly welcomed the standardisation of the BCG, which is similar to the traditional DTV’s electronic programme guide (EPG), and the SD&S mechanism, the group adds. Thanks to standardised information, the SD&S mechanism allows an STB to efficiently recognise the multicast and unicast offerings of IPTV-service operators on a broadband network, it says.

 Many DVB member companies which have home network specification will be based on the DLNA/UPnP guidelines where possible.

 Additions to the DVB-MHP middleware specifications: To allow iTV applications running on multimedia home platform (MHP) to use the resources available in a DVB-IPTV environment.

Also, DVB says, key specifications already published include:

＊TS 102 034: Transport of MPEG-2 TS-based DVB services over IP-based networks.

 ＊TS 102 539: Carriage of BCG informa-tion over IP.

 ＊TS 102 824: Remote management and firmware update system for DVB IP services. The group adds that commercial IPTV networks have been rolled out to a varying extent in several countries, with many operators using non-standardised proprietary technologies to deliver services, including TV, interactive content and video on demand.

 DVB expects IPTV to become an even more popular means of delivering such services to the home, particularly when offered in conjunction with other forms of broadcast network, whether terrestrial or satellite.

 With the publication of the first set of DVB standards for IPTV, services launched can benefit from the advantages of open standards. The industry has particularly welcomed the standardisation of the BCG, which is similar to the traditional DTV’s electronic programme guide (EPG), and the SD&S mechanism, the group adds. Thanks to standardised information, the SD&S mechanism allows an STB to efficiently recognise the multicast and unicast offerings of IPTV-service operators on a broadband network, it says. Many DVB member companies which have participated in the working groups are now integrating DVB-IPTV into their product lines.

 And, it would seem that the latest studies on global IPTV take-up are consistent with the DVB Project’s forecast. Frost and Sullivan, for instance, has released findings that Global IPTV adoption is on the upswing, but notes that glitches get in the way of true IPTV implementation.

 Observing that many service providers feel the urge to launch IPTV services as a defensive strategy to increase their ‘n-play’ offerings with one more service, the market-information provider reveals that global IPTV deployments to date would suggest that a half-hearted approach to IPTV services has not been effective.

 Adeel Najam, research analyst for Frost & Sullivan, believes that IPTV requires a full-throttle implementation to really take off. “As the broadcast and pay-TV industry is uncharted territory for most telecom players, telcos will need to penetrate the market with an offensive approach, complete with a content-acquisition strategy, to successfully attract cable- or satellite-TV subscribers,” he says.

 New analysis from the firm’s IPTV business case reveals that the IPTV subscriber base in the Asia-Pacific, covering 13 countries, reached 4.1 million in 2007, with the figure estimated at 22.4 million by end-2013, at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 32.7% (2007-13). Of the 13 countries globally studied by Frost & Sullivan, eight deployed commercial IPTV services last year, while the rest are conducting trials for deployments beginning next year. The Asia-Pacific accounted for about a third of the global IPTV subscriber base last year, says the company. Apart from South Korea, which does not have true IPTV service, the top two Asia-Pacific-subscriber countries by end-2007 were Hong Kong, with 24.9% (or 1.02 million) of the region’s IPTV subscriber base, and China, with 22.7% (0.93 million). Hong Kong reportedly boasts the highest household IPTV-penetration rate of 45.3%. It is the only market where the platform dominates the pay-TV industry, with a 46.7% subscriber share through its incumbent PCCW in 2007.

 The research firm says cable TV controls 41% of Hong Kong’s 2.18 million pay-TV subscriber market while satellite DTH (direct-to-home) services hold 12.3%. With only a handful of successful IPTV rollouts — PCCW, which launched its IPTV service in 2003, being one of the few in the world — along with EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) margins still in the red for most, if not all, IPTV-service providers, critics argue that the business case for IPTV does not exist and payday is too long a wait.