Northern Sky Research (NSR) released its newest market survey and forecast report: "IPTV via Satellite: Assessing the Market Opportunity for Satellite Delivered IPTV Services." The report analyzes the role of satellite technology in the potentially lucrative IPTV market as equipment manufacturers, software developers and service providers have begun to address global demand for IPTV to the world's households. The report outlines the value proposition for satellite technology in the IPTV market and provides estimates for satellite capacity utilization, revenue and the installed base of user sites that satellites can target in all regions over a six-year period.

The report concludes that the IPTV via satellite market is a niche offering, accounting for a relatively small percentage share of the market potential that terrestrial-based platforms are likely to generate. Although satellite-based total revenues from 2005 to 2010 are expected to exceed $1.6 billion, the market estimates expected from terrestrial-based services, as touted by some forecasters, rest in the area of over $7 billion for the year 2010 alone. Nevertheless, IPTV does provide a unique and growing opportunity for the satellite industry to target. The growing preference for IP that satellite service providers are incorporating in their offerings, and the compelling role of satellite services in the video markets worldwide, make IPTV via satellite services a compelling value proposition for select regions.

"Given the proven broadcast economics of satellites in delivering content cost-effectively to large geographic footprints, particularly in underserved areas, growth of IPTV via satellite services should increase at a steady rate," states Jose del Rosario, senior analyst of NSR and author of the report.

Initial demand is expected to be generated largely by entities that are setting up infrastructure to enable IPTV via satellite services. These services mainly require transponder lease contracts from satellite operators for the delivery of content to IPTV gateways. Once the infrastructure is in place, the market is expected to move quickly to retail business models where revenue-sharing arrangements between satellite companies and the owners of content will lead to higher margins as satellite players participate in revenue sharing from the subscribers' monthly service fees.

"Since 'content is king' in the pay-TV business, content aggregation and distribution rights are, and will continue to be more important from a revenue generation perspective compared to actual service provisioning of IPTV. The 'battle for eyeballs' in any pay-TV platform is where the bulk of revenues will be earned, and IPTV is no exception. The market entry strategy for IPTV via satellite players is to provide a compelling business proposition to the owners of content, and once this has been established, the revenue-sharing arrangements will ensure a healthy market for satellite players," states del Rosario.

"IPTV via Satellite" is a multi-client report now available from NSR. For additional information on this report, including a full table of contents, list of figures and executive summary, please visit www.nsr.com or call NSR at 617-576-5771.