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IPTV Goes Straight to the ScreenBy Erik Linask Associate Editor The IPTV (News - Alert) market is poised to bring to bear a slew of new technologies and with them new revenue opportunities. The convergence of broadband and conventional broadcasting will certainly impact both the content creation and service delivery worlds — not to mention the consumer — as traditional barriers surrounding television viewing and broadcasting will be transformed.
Already, NeuLion is expanding the possibilities with its IPTV, going beyond the desktop, straight from the Internet to the TV. The NeuLion iPTV platform is an end-to-end solution that uses the public Internet to stream multimedia content to any TV or PC from a common library. The result is DVD-quality streaming video — in real-time — to any device. Consider wireless devices with miniature signal converters and EV-DO technology, and the boundaries begin to fade even more.
“IPTV is the hottest technology right now, and is poised to transform the way that people choose, access and enjoy multimedia entertainment,” said Chris Wagner, EVP and Co-Founder of NeuLion.
The NeuLion iPTV platform encodes, delivers, stores, and manages an unlimited range of multimedia content, and the Operational Support System (OSS) maintains all billing and customer support services. The service delivers high quality video to the home or business over an existing high speed Internet connection, allowing viewing of high quality content, just as if it were being delivered by a local cable provider.
But, without traditional geographical limitations, NeuLion’s platform can span the globe, connecting niche audiences and creating communities connected by common interests. What’s more NeuLion’s set-top box also supports interactive features, from VoIP connections to gaming and more.
The key is that the NeuLion platform is both platform- and vendor-neutral — it can deliver video to any platform or any media device, using surprisingly low bandwidth rates.
NeuLion’s content partners supply media and identify the marketplace. The NeuLion iPTV Platform encodes, delivers, stores, and manages an unlimited amount of multimedia content, and the Operational Support System (OSS) maintains all billing and customer support services.
The first NeuLion iPTV-based service to hit the marketplace is KyLinTV, an IPTV subscription service for Chinese-Americans, launched in September of last year. KyLinTV now streams live to thousands of subscribers from coast to coast, offering more than 20,000 hours of broadcast and VOD content choices with 300 hours added or updated each week.
Erik Linask is Associate Editor of INTERNET TELEPHONY. Most recently, he was Managing Editor at Global Custodian, an international securities services publication. To see more of his articles, please visit Erik Linask’s columnist page.
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