IPTV vs. Internet Television

Filed in archive IPTV on May 26, 2005

I thank Torsten Jacobi for pointing me in the direction of new business still in stealth mode called Brightcove. While the company is steeped in way too much mystery as to exactly what it's mission will be, I was intrigued by the fact that Jeremy Allaire was behind it. Jeremy helped shape the Macromedia MX platform development and significantly contributed in making Flash a central staple in Macromedia ongoing business and development strategy.

"We hope to help producers and publishers of video take us into the emerging era of Internet Television," said Jeremy.

That may sound like a benign sentence, but it does open up an very important point that I will elaborate upon. That is this: there is a vast difference between IPTV and Internet TV.

Yesterday, I pointed readers to an article written by Mike Quigley, CEO of Alcatel USA. He did a good job defining what IPTV is. He wrote:

"While the 'IP' in its name stands for Internet Protocol, that doesn't mean people will log onto their favorite Web page to access television programming. The IP refers to a method of sending information over a secure, tightly managed network that results in a superior entertainment experience."

And that is the key. You are not using the Internet to surf for video. Instead, the telco's are deploying IPTV as an alternative to digital cable and satelite. If you become an IPTV subscriber, you will hook up a set top box to your television just like you do now for cable (but the IPTV device will plug into your broadband connection).

Internet TV is quite different (or, "Internet of Video" in Jeremey's lingo) in terms of the model for the consumer, the publisher and for the infrastructure itself. Jeremy goes on to say:

In the Internet of Video approach the publisher has a direct communication channel to the consumer. The content publisher is able to directly reach the consumers on the multiple devices independent of any specific carrier or operator. The Internet of Video is in fact an approach that also attempts to be as device independent as possible. Thanks to open standards and formats which have helped create this opportunity, Internet Television wants to be just as the web is today. Accessible from any type of computer and connection around the world..... and not physically tied to the user living room or set-top box.

You can read more and also listen to Jeremy Allaire's thoughts at Robin Good.