What is IPTV?

If you are reading this, you must be looking forward to know what exactly IPTV, Internet Protocol Television is all about. Have you ever streamed a movie or a TV show from the internet? IPTV is based upon a similar technology and there’s nothing Greek about it.

With the help of IPTV, you will be provided with the chance to experience three different types of content. They include:

• • Live television or media, which comes with interactivity or without interactivity.
  • Video on Demand.
  • Time shifted programming.

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What’s the difference between IPTV and ITV?

To enjoy IPTV, you will need to have a player and a subscription. In addition to that, you will also need to have a set-top box and a high speed internet connection. Then you will be able to stream media content and watch them through your device.

When it comes to IP TV, television stream is simply fed into the set top box. This would resemble the functionality of a cable box. Therefore, you can make sure that you don’t have to go through the hassle of navigating through websites to enjoy content you want. You will be able to stream media content at the comfort of your home and enjoy them.

The standards of IPTV vary

When you take a look at the standards of IP TV, you will notice a variety of variations in between them. This differs mainly based on the geographical regions. For example, these services are available in Europe and are standardized according to the European Telecommunication Standards. They are also governed by the Hybrid Broadband TV Consortium. There are some country specific standards as well. Before you spend your money to purchase IPTV Subscription, We recommend that you have a better overall understanding about these different standards. Then you can get a better picture of the service that you receive.

History of IPTV

It came to this world in 1995. It was Precept Software, which developed IPTV. Judith Estrin and Bill Carrico are the founders of this technology. They developed a Windows based app, which can deliver multi-source video and audio feeds over the internet.

Along with time, technology behind these services developed and evolved up to the current state that we see. 1998 is a significant year in the history of IPTV. That’s because Cisco Systems went ahead and purchased Precept Software along with their technology. The IPTV Subscription Service was initiated by Kingston Technology during 1999. Video on Demand service was integrated in the year 2001.

Market growth of IPTV services

When we take a look at the history of IP TV, we can see a significant market growth. The most significant growth can be seen in the recent years. In other words, it didn’t receive the best popularity at the time of inception.

During the year 2009, the number of IPTV subscribers around the world increased to 28 million. In the year 2013, the total number of IPTV users have increased up to 83 million. Similarly, the total revenue generated by the IPTV industry back in 2009 was just $12 billion, but it increased up to $38 billion by the year 2013.

Most of the IPTV subscribers can be found in Europe and Asian. However, the most revenue is generated in North America and Europe. That’s because the average revenue generated per person in countries like India and China are relatively low. It is possible to see a significant growth for IPTV Subscriptions recently in Eastern and Central Europe. Countries such as Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India have already introduced services for the people as well.

IPTV services have plenty of room to grow in the future. The reduced expenses are driving the growth of IPTV services at a rapid pace. On the other hand, it provides excellent user-interactive capabilities. People are provided with the opportunity to personalize the experiences as well as delivery modes in an efficient manner.

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Legal issues related to IPTV

In most of the countries, you will be able to see IPTV services being offered at least through a single carrier. It can be a government carrier or a private organization. Most of the independent IPTV services that you can find in Canada and United States continue with their operations through a paid licensing fee. Hence, they don’t come across any IPTV legal issues when providing the service for people in need.

Broadcasting IPTV services without a proper license can subject a person towards criminal penalties. Hence, it is important to keep it in mind and continue with offering services for the people in need.

How are the services being used?

The residential subscribers to these services are enjoying them for viewing television, entertainment and to watch movies and videos. Some people are also using them for corporate and commercial purposes. When you take a look at it from the business perspective, you will notice that IP TV streams audio visual content in large scale settings, such as offices, hotels, airports, sports stadiums and schools.

Hybrid IPTV services

Hybrid IPTV services have received a lot of attention in the recent past. The ability of these services to overcome bottlenecks linked with traditional IPTV services is the main reason behind their popularity. People tend to use the hybrid services in order to enjoy catch up TV, shopping, gaming, use internet apps and to access e-government functions. In addition, we can use it to engage with video telephony services and video on demand services. They come with traditional TV broadcast services as well. However, content delivery is taking place through the internet.

Hybrid IPTV is in a position to create two main types of impacts in the society. As the first thing, it enhances the popularity of the online video aggregators. For example, it can increase the popularity of Vimeo and YouTube. Secondly, it allows the ISPs to bundle their packages and offer them to the people and let them receive benefits.