NEW FRONTIER: IPTV may soon become the de facto way to enjoy your favourite television programmes.

Television via the Internet is all set to catch on as soon as high-speed broadband shows up.

By SUBASHINI SELVARATNAM

IT WAS a Sunday and Sharini was watching her favourite programme on satellite TV. All was well until it started to rain heavily outside. From that point onwards, the broadcast kept getting interrupted and she started missing chunks of the show.

Most, if not all, of us who subscribe to satellite TV have found ourselves in the same predicament. Each time it rains, there may be a loss of signal depending on how heavy it storms.

The ability of the weather to affect our TV time could be nullified when Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) comes into play nationwide in the near future.

IPTV is television programmes delivered over a broadband ­connection. TV via the Internet, to put it another way.

While broadband speeds would need to be high for IPTV to work smoothly, the technology does mean that we’d be able to watch TV programmes, as well as free or pay-per-view movies, without having to worry about rainy days.

With adequate broadband speeds, IPTV offers better video and audio quality compared to that of ­traditional analogue TV broadcasts.

With it comes several other features, courtesy of the power of the Internet. Say you’re following a football match and you’re curious about a particular player’s history. With IPTV, you’d be able to call up the information in a separate window while continuing to watch the match.

Similarly, you’d be able to open up several windows at a time to see what other programmes are on, much the way you can multitask now on the desktop of your ­personal computer.

This makes IPTV much more interactive than standard TV.

IPTV is usually bundled with services like Video on Demand (VoD), Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Web access. VoIP is the making of cheap phone calls over the Web, especially to people in other parts of the world, while the benefits of the two other services are obvious.

With IPTV, users will be able to schedule a recording of their ­favourite programme if they know they won’t be home when it comes on. They will also have more control over functionalities such as rewind, fast-forward, pause, etc.

Also, you can receive notifications of incoming e-mail and instant messages while watching a show on IPTV. Or, you can choose not to if you don’t want any interruptions.

Those who opt for a digital phone service with IPTV can have caller-IDs pop-up onscreen whenever the device rings.

Since IPTV makes use of standard computer networking protocols, it promises lower costs for service operators and lower service charges for users.

On the door step

Currently, there are IPTV services in limited locations in this country, largely due to the unavailability of broadband connections in certain areas.

Once Telekom Malaysia (TM) extends its High-Speed Broadband (HSBB) service to residential areas in the first quarter of next year, telco industry regulator Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) expects an upwards spike in IPTV services.

HSBB offers bandwidth delivered at network speeds of 10Mbps (megabits per second) and higher. Standard broadband — or Broadband to the General Population (BBGP) — delivers ­bandwidth via wired and wireless technologies at speeds of up to just 4Mbps.

“By the end of this year, there are plans to embark on HSBB service consumer trials for homes in Bangsar, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Shah Alam and Subang Jaya (in the Klang Valley),” said TM’s executive vice-president of consumer services, Jeremy Kung.

TM’s HSBB project is a public sector/private sector partnership with the Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture, as well as the MCMC.

Aside from providing high-­definition TV programmes and “On Demand” services, TM wants to make it easier for its broadband service subscribers to watch movies and TV dramas on IPTV anytime they want to.

They will enjoy a better viewing experience and will no longer be tied to a TV programme schedule like they are now,” said Kung. “They can watch what they want, when they want.”

The IPTV service will be offered as a value-added feature for the TM customers. The service provider believes a minimum broadband speed of 3Mbps is all that is required to enjoy decent service.

However industry pundits said it would be a case of the higher the bandwidth, the better. “A bicycle will get you from one place to another, but there are times when you will want to go faster than that,” explained one observer who asked for anonymity.

No easy task

Rolling out a successful IPTV service is not without its challenges. TM’s broadband network would need to be properly configured to cater for the delivery of high-quality pay-TV services to the public.

Aside from the technical ­considerations, TM would need to offer an attractive mix of content that would appeal to many viewers.

“A quick ramp-up of our pay-TV subscriber base is key for us to secure premium content,” Kung said.

Also, there is already a clarion call for more local content to be made available and TM wants to provide a better platform for that to happen, complementing the efforts already being made by other media/­broadcast service operators.

TM is open to forming ­partnerships in content offerings over its coming IPTV service. That, it said, would allow for the content provision ecosystem to expand — ensuring that not just TM is ­developing content but also ­interested parties that may want to offer niche services, such as foreign sports programmes and ­homegrown indie (independent) videos.

It is also already in talks with several local and foreign content providers to secure their channels and content for the launch of its IPTV service.

The MCMC, on the other hand, is doing its part by promoting content development through its Networked Content Development Grant scheme, and other efforts.

It will not interfere with the provision of content for IPTV ­services, except for regulating the content through license conditions and overseeing the self-regulatory environment through the nation’s Content Forum and Content Code.

For the MCMC, the key challenge is getting high-speed broadband to be ubiquitous nationwide so that IPTV can be delivered everywhere.

Currently, broadband penetration in Malaysia is still a low 24% for households, compared to 93% in South Korea and 83.8% in Hong Kong.

Then, there is the affordability factor for IPTV users. When it comes to pay-per-view, the charges should not be high, said industry pundits. Most agreed that pricing in the region of RM10 a movie should go down well with most viewers here.

Also, the introduction of IPTV will initiate serious competition with conventional and satellite TV ­services, in terms of various ­policies, broadcast rights, and content ownership rights-related issues which will need to be addressed.

Until then, rainy days will ­continue to get us down.

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