Set-Top Box Price Seen as IPTV Stumbling Block
The greatest challenge for IPTV is the cost of set-top boxes, said several panelists at Satellite 2007. Until the prices of the set-top boxes come down, especially MPEG-4 HD boxes, it will be hard to persuade cable, telcos and DBS to go into the market full speed, and to persuade consumers to give the service they subscribe to, they said. Aggravating that cost are the requirements imposed by programmers that haven’t seen IPTV’s value, participants said. Brian Morrow, COO-IPTV solutions for Eagle Broadband, said each programmer has a different set of restrictions on how it content can be used. But that will change, said New Earth Pres. Arman Musey: When they see the value of IPTV, programmers will get together and make their requirements more uniform.
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IPTV is seen as a growth opportunity for satellite operators, but estimates vary widely, said NSR Pres. Christopher Baugh. Satellite has an advantage because it’s still the most efficient way to deliver content to multiple points, said Paul Kosac, vp-mkt. development for Cisco’s Scientific-Atlanta. Satellites can also offer unique programming, said Kosac, for example offering ethnic TV because FSS already has relationships with international broadcasters.
Telcos need to join the IPTV market and observers need to remember that telcos of all sizes are interested, even if the tier-1 players tend to be slower at jumping in than rural carriers, panelists said. Bryan McGuirk, pres. of media & enterprise services for SES Americom, said there’s a “huge incentive” for telcos to launch IPTV to slow their loss of customers. For rural carriers, the incentive is even greater, McGuirk said, noting that rural carriers get $30-$40 a customer in universal-service fund support, “so they need that line to keep that money coming in.” SES Americom is working with the National Telecom Coop. Assn.(NTCA) on its IP-Prime offering, which McGuirk promised will have 100 channels of HD programming within 5 years. IP Prime now has about 25 HD channels in each local market and sees the amount of HD programming growing due in large part to DirecTV’s commitment to offer 100 HD channels this year, said McGuirk.