With competition heating up for video services in Europe, operators will employ VOD as a key differentiator in acquiring new subscribers, with evidence suggesting that the move from near-VOD to true VOD dramatically increases buy rates. VOD is fast becoming a must-have feature; and for those operators with the technology already in place, the next step is to differentiate even further via HD VOD, along with increasing the size of the content library. In a recent report, ABI Research categorizes the growth of VOD subscriber levels in the contexts of programming and functionality.

The adoption of digital PC-TV tuners will accelerate in Europe as Digital Terrestrial TV services continue to expand there. Asia, China and India will present strong growth opportunities. North America is expected to see a surge during 2009, when analog TV is cut off, and new mobile digital broadcast TV services are introduced by major U.S. TV stations. The high-tech market research firm In-Stat cautions that the uptake of PC-TV tuners is not guaranteed, as they face challenges from a wide variety of options, consumers now have to use computers to gather and view a wide range of video content.

The Broadband Forum releases the latest Broadband and IPTV statistics at this year's Broadband World Forum Asia in Hong Kong.  The report, prepared for the Broadband Forum by industry analysts Point Topic, shows that IPTV subscribers have more than doubled for the second year running with an increase of 53.14 percent in the 12 months to 31 March 2008. 

The statistics also show that worldwide broadband subscribers have reached over 370 million with DSL remaining the most dominant access technology with 65 percent of the world's subscribers.  However, fiber subscriptions have risen by 33 percent since the beginning of 2007, with over 10 million people connected to a fiber network.  This increase in fiber subscriptions may be attributed to the increased popularity of bandwidth hungry services such as IPTV.  However, the leading technology delivering IPTV today is ADSL2plus, with 12,049,817 subscribers.

Hewlett-Packard releases a “new generation of all-in-one PCs,” designed to boost user experience with enhanced multimedia applications presented in a touchscreen interface through a high-definition display. PC manufacturers such as Sony, Dell, and now HP, are using all-in-one designs with rich multimedia capabilities to appeal to new usage models around the home. In a recent report, ABI Research unpacks the home theater PC market, and details the growing competition as manufacturers attempt to lead the industry by setting new technological and usability trends.

Faced with stiff competition in the cable market and from telcos vying for TV viewers, traditionally risk-averse cable operators are becoming increasingly “bipolar,” supporting a roadmap that may require the deployment of new STBs with more advanced features and functions, while also apparently aiming to drive the ubiquitous STB to extinction.

Meanwhile, STB vendors are offering a variety of new features to entice operators. When it comes to STBs, operators have traditionally tread carefully, and have largely been unwilling to “shop around” much for new technologies.

Telcos that are investing heavily in IPTV infrastructure and services to drive new revenues also need to ensure that tools and technologies are in place to monitor their customers' quality of experience with their video services – but telcos aren't sure that today's IPTV QOE test and measurement tools provide the right level of service monitoring, according to a major new report from Heavy Reading.

IPTV Phase II: QOE Is Mission Critical identifies and analyzes the core issues involved in determining QOE for IPTV services. The report explores the issues that affect how to objectively determine QOE in a way that it reflects the subscriber's subjective point of view. It identifies and evaluates key standards and sets out the most likely timetable for the emergence of standards that would give service providers greater confidence in choosing solutions for measuring the quality of their TV services.

The Nielsen Company releases the first comparable U.S. figures showing video and TV usage across the 'three screens' - Television, Internet and Mobile devices.

Nielsen's findings show that screen time of the average American continues to increase with TV users watching more TV than ever before (127 hrs, 15 min per month), while also spending 9% more time using the Internet (26 hrs, 26 min per month) from last year. At the same time, a small but growing number of Internet and mobile phone users are watching video online (2 hrs, 19 min per month), as well as using their cell phones to watch video (3 hrs, 15 min per month).

Msnbc.com continues to dominate the online news landscape and get the top "vote" from consumers and the advertising community, alike. In May, msnbc.com underscored its leadership position by delivering over 125 million online video streams, more than any other news site. Since February, users have viewed over 100 million online video streams on msnbc.com each month. Industry experts have also "voted" for msnbc.com by awarding the site with a prestigious collection of accolades and honors, recognizing its world-class original journalism and innovative brand campaign, "A Fuller Spectrum of News."

The road to converged IPTV gets much smoother as MRG's new IPTV infrastructure and service report provides a new roadmap for IPTV Operators to use in competing with Cable, Satellite and even Internet Video. By categorizing multi-platform services into functional groups including Time-shifting, Place-shifting, Personalization, and Socialization, the report provides numerous examples of what new services may look like on different platforms and regions of the world.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Pay-TV and Video-on-Demand Potential in India" report to their offering.

The cable industry has dominated the pay-TV market since the early nineties but is now facing competition from DTH and IPTV. DTH seems to be growing strong in India and is likely to capture 24.6% of the total pay-TV subscriber base by 2012, while 11.1% of subscribers will be covered by cable-CAS. Overall growth of cable subscribers, including cable-CAS and cable-non CAS, during the forecasted period is slated to be a mere 0.51% CAGR. The growth of IPTV is likely to remain slow during the forecasted period, owing to lower broadband penetration in the country.

According to the latest report from media analysts Screen Digest, HD technology has reached a tipping point in Europe, with take-up across the region accelerating rapidly. Despite the growing penetration of HD screens, the report identifies a significant ‘content gap’ caused by a lack of HD content on free-to-air platforms across the region. By the end of 2007, 18 per cent of the 165 million European TV households were equipped with HD displays - but less than one per cent of these (approximately one million) were fully ‘HD enabled’ (i.e. equipped with an HD set-top box and an HD subscription enabling them to watch HD broadcasts).

Infonetics Research reports that the combined IPTV and switched digital video equipment market increased 12% sequentially to $1.3 billion worldwide in 1Q08.

Infonetics' report, IPTV and Switched Digital Video Equipment, Services, and Subscribers, indicates revenue growth is being driven by growing numbers of service providers rolling out new IPTV networks or expanding existing networks to support more subscribers. The market is also getting a push from cable MSOs introducing switched video capabilities into their digital TV networks to free up bandwidth and offer more HD content to their subscribers.

The online TV market in the UK is developing quickly, as individuals harness the power to determine their own viewing schedule and online activities. More Europeans are using high-speed connections to stream and download TV. The reasons are clear: Now users can decide when to watch TV, they can watch just what they want and they can treat the content like a DVD -- pausing, rewinding and re-viewing.

In 2008, more than 60% of UK homes will have broadband connections, and that figure will rise to 74% in 2012. As a result, online video viewing is also rising and an increasing amount of broadcast and cable television content is appearing online. Add that behavior to the growing Internet population, which will top 38 million in the UK in 2008, and a transformation of the TV landscape is the result.

With video entertainment choices expanding rapidly with the broader availability of web video and video-capable devices such as the iPhone, Americans are consuming more video content than ever according to the Multiplatform Video Report released by Solutions Research Group.

NOW 6.1 HOURS DAILY WITH VIDEO-BASED ENTERTAINMENT

The study found that an average American consumer aged 12 and older with Internet access now spends 6.1 hours daily with video-based entertainment, up from 4.6 in 1996. Of this 6.1 hours, 63.9% (nearly 4 hours per day) currently comes from traditional Television, including live, DVR and video-on-demand viewing. Video games, web and PC video, DVDs and video on mobile devices account for the balance.

Widevine and Verimatrix claimed the second and third spots in the company’s new evaluation of worldwide Digital Rights Management vendors. The Vendor Matrix is an analytical tool developed by ABI Research to provide a clear understanding of vendors’ positions in specific markets.

Industry analyst Zippy Aima comments: “There is really very little separating the top three vendors in the Digital Rights Management Vendor Matrix. All offer good individualized technological solutions. NDS took top honors mainly on account of its larger market share. Widevine and Verimatrix are relatively new in the market, and their rapid success in gaining market share is commendable. On the basis of longevity in the market and number of customers, however, NDS has to be considered the market leader.”