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Microsoft to promote IPTV... again

13 October 2006 7:59 by Dave "Davedough" Horvath | 10 comments

Redmond is ablaze with new ideas of how to, once again try and break into the US television market and share some of the wealth that cable and satellite companies garner. After such failed attempts as WebTV, Microsoft has tried repeatedly to launch a successful and profitable television service over the Internet.

Microsoft's own standard, Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) has been a budding technology since it's inception. With US markets not really adopting it early on, it's strugged from day one. Now poised with multi-million dollar contracts with worldwide companies such as AT&T, British Telecom, Deutsche Telekom AG, and Verizon, Microsoft hopes to finally bring it's IPTV streaming television solution to fruition.

They hope to bring faster and more interactive television services than currently provided by cable and satellite providers. Several stumbling blocks are touted merely as "growing pains" include details like picture in picture and high definition solutions via the stream. These high dollar contracts are with major telecommunications firms so that their service receives the utmost attention from the network backbones. In preparation, companies like AT&T and Verizon are spending millions of dollars laying fiber optics straight to customer's doorsteps.

Microsoft claims last year, three million subscribers in their test demographic brought in as much as $400 million in revenue. Their hopes are to receive as many as 49 million subscribers generating $13 billion by 2010. Of course, this isn't their only source of income. Genuine Microsoft servers will need to be deployed to provide the streams for the telecommunication companies, thereby generating even more money for the conglomerate. Just imagine a world in the very near future where even your television can get a blue screen of death.

Source
Reuters

Permalink to this article | Topic: IPTV

Xbox 360 10 million sold? IPTV support? (7 January 2007)

Next-gen WiFi technology to deliver IPTV around the home (31 May 2006)

Consumer awareness of IPTV high in United States (15 February 2006)

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Discuss this article!
redrumbrg (Junior Member) 13 October 2006 9:08
it's about time, they talked about iptv over 4 years ago. we will just have to see if it is better than satelite. [ + quote]
marsey99 (Senior Member) 13 October 2006 9:27
but will it realy offer anything that my cable cant? [ + quote]
CiDaemon (Member) 13 October 2006 15:19
Since when has any alternative to cable actually been anything but a gimmick?: "Buy satellite! 400+ Channels, and more!" Thats fine... on clear, sunny days ;) . One cloud = "400+ Channels" is reduced to 5 local broadcast channels. And this is supposedly better than cable. I bet anything else they come up with will have problems too. Cable is a really stable medium compared to satellite, F/O, or wireless- therefore it's got an edge. [ + quote]
erjl (Newbie) 13 October 2006 16:30
Obviously, CiDaemon has never had satelite. [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 13 October 2006 16:30
I'll say it now if they want money forget it,if they cram adds every 20-60secs forget it. What I can stand 1.adds all over the page 2.SMALL AD watermark during play 3.Pay for HD downlaods 4.10-60 ad spots before and after [ + quote]
tnarulz (Junior Member) 13 October 2006 17:23
I've had satellite for about 5 years and the only time the picture goes out is when the weather is really bad example when the rain is coming down so thick you can barely see outside it happened in 05 but not in 06. [ + quote]
limelight (Member) 13 October 2006 17:47
If its not cheaper than sat or cable than forget it. [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 13 October 2006 19:16
I see priceing from 20-50$ easy,they seem to forget a good high speed connection is 50 all by itself for most of the US...... [ + quote]
yetagain (Inactive) 16 October 2006 7:36
Give me an F'en break. What crap. The world is bitching about running out of IP address and now that has been circumvented. NOW......the world is bitching about not being able to keep up with bandwidth......OH waaaahhhhhhhh. For crying out loud, serveral ISPs are bottlenecking or throttling bandwidth for certain applications if not just in general. The torrent network is consuming over 80% of internet traffic and it's pissing corporations off (for no reason in my opinion because they're money hungry bastards) and now they want to consume even more BW by putting B.S., sub-par tv. Give it up MS. No one will watch and if they do then the world will see a massive firing spur for those watching at work. [ + quote]
MightyOne (Junior Member) 16 October 2006 11:02
yetagain: I think you've hit it right on. The bandwidth is not up to par for that much streaming tv yet....Even if the TV shows are cached at Large ISP's...they will just charge you more and prices will go up, up, and up. I think that most consumers would want Video on Demand. Watch it when YOU want to...which is exactly why torrent files are being downloaded. Watch it when I have the time...not at 8 or 9 PM when i'm fighting with my kids to go to bed. [ + quote]