The Future of Television

With DirecTV this week starting to beta test is new DirecTV on Demand service and Dish Network also getting ready to roll out its DishONLINE VOD service, I believe we are starting to see the next generation of TV being introduced to consumers.

And that next generation of television is a simple four-letter word, which I am sure we will be hearing a lot more about in the future IPTV.

Yes IPTV has been around for a while but now it is starting to gain momentum and become available on a national level.

Both Dish Network’s and DirecTV’s VOD services will be the first national rollout of IPTV services to consumers, and it will be using equipment that many consumers all ready has installed in their home.   For it to work the consumer must hook their compatible receivers to their broadband Internet connections.

The first generation of IPTV from Dish Network and DirecTV will not offer “LIVE” programming, however it will offer customers vast video on demand selections such and movies and missed TV shows and specials. Depending on the customers Internet connection speed selections could be available for viewing in a couple moments after making their selection while for others they may need a few hours to download their selection.

I predict that what we are seeing from both companies is just the beginning and that in the future we will see many live channels made available. These channels could be foreign channels, or lesser viewed/requested channels that the satellite provider would like to carry but they feel the audience is to small to tie up national satellite transponder space for these niche channels.

One lesser-known DBS satellite company, Sky Angel just recently announced that it was planning on moving its entire service off of satellite and on to an IPTV platform.

There are other IPTV platforms out there, such as AT&T’s UVERSE service, which deliver customers television, VOD and Internet using strictly IP. Services such as UVERSE can be good competition to cable and satellite providers, however the technology is still not where it needs to be yet to be really competitive. 

I had AT&T’s UVERSE service recently and had to get rid of it because of some issues with the technology, the main issue being only one TV in your entire house could watch one HD channel (stream) at a time. My house has 5 HDTV’s in it and it got frustrating when I wanted to watch TV and saw an error message on my screen that HD was in use somewhere else in the house.

But as I write this today I feel that what we are seeing now is just the birth of IPTV, the technologies will improve and get better. And I honestly can see a time in the future where you will be able to sit at home and be able to enjoy any movie, television show or song you can think of just by pressing a few buttons on your remote.

For me I am excited about the future of television, and I invite everyone to take a look at what’s happening, you are seeing the birth of something exciting. IPTV is the future of television.

For my Friday column here at MultiChannel.COM I will focus on what IPTV means for the future of satellite television and what role it can play in the IPTV revolution.