It is not enough for the telcos to enter the video market with only a conventional broadcast TV experience, but must also add value to these services in order to compete effectively against the entrenched cable operators. Customizing the television viewing experience according to subscriber's preference is becoming key to gaining market share in the Internet protocol TV (IPTV) services market.

Streaming video and music distributed across the Internet or directly to a mobile handset is fast becoming a mainstream entertainment delivery vehicle that will generate more than $27 billion in network-derived and content-derived revenue into the US markets by 2011, according to a new market research study from The Insight Research Corporation. Streaming media refers to the transmission of digital audio and video files over an IP network or wireless network in real time or on-demand, while prohibiting users from storing the files locally.

Telecom network operators that neglect test and measurement in their rollouts of IPTV run the risk of doing irreparable damage to their long-term business plans by failing to deliver the quality of experience (QOE) that subscribers expect from video service providers, according to the latest report published by Light Reading Insider, a paid research subscription service of Light Reading Inc..

The number of IPTV subscribers in the APEJ region is expected to increase from 1.2 million subscribers in 2005 to a monumental 29.7 million subscribers in 2010 at an impressive compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 89%, according to IDC’s latest report, "Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) IPTV Market 2006-2010 Forecast and Analysis".

Research and Markets has announced the addition of 2006 Global Digital Media - Convergence, Triple Play and IPTV to their offering.

Annual report on: Digital TV, iTV, broadband TV, IPTV, VoiP, cable TV, pay TV, VoD, media centres, FttH, convergence, DVR, PVR, branding, customer service, permission based marketing, regional overviews: Europe, USA, Asia, Canada, Australia, New Zealand.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of 2006 Digital Media Technology - Digital TV, Mobile TV, IPTV, MPEG to their offering.

New biennial report on digital broadcasting technologies covering: propagation of radio waves, analogue broadcasting techniques, spectrum management arrangements, key technical and commercial trends, distinctions between digital broadcasting for stationary video receivers, for mobile receivers and for small handheld devices, ATSC, DVB, ARIB ISDB and DVB-T, MHEG and MHP middleware, transmission standards, RDS and DirectBand, Digital Radio Mondaile, In Band On Channel HD Radio, Eureka 147, WorldSpace, Sirius and XM, MediaFlo and MBSAT 'T-DMB', P3, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264 Advanced Video Coding (AAC), Real Networks, Windows Media and Quicktime, VoD and IP multicasting, FttH, FttC, HFC, ADSL and WiMAX, MP3, Spectral Band Replication (SBR), Parametric Stereo and Scalable Lossless Coding, HILN, MPEG-7 metadata and MPEG-21 digital rights management standards (DRM).

The number of households subscribing to new Television via Internet Protocol (IPTV) services offered by telecom carriers in Western Europe will reach 3.3 million this year and 16.7 million in 2010, according to new forecasts from Gartner Inc.

Despite the robust growth in users, Gartner said that IPTV will struggle over the next five years to become a mainstream revenue opportunity for telecom carriers. Competing against entrenched Pay TV and free-to-air terrestrial TV providers who deliver good quality programming for free, carriers will resort to low priced services and bundles to drive initial subscriber uptake. As a result, carriers' IPTV revenue in Western Europe during the period will grow from 336 million euros in 2006 to only 3 billion euros by 2010.

The new IPTV Global Forecast 2006-2009 from Multimedia Research Group, Inc (MRG) reveals some noteworthy developments since the last IPTV (IP TV) Forecast in September 2005, including subscriber growth from 4.3 million to 36.8 million in 2005-2009; and system (cap ex) revenue growth from $740 million to $4.3 billion in 2005-2009.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of IPTV Home Networking Strategies to their offering.

This report describes the strategic importance of the Home Network for IPTV (IP TV) operators. It describes how a Home Networking strategy can improve the competitiveness of an IPTV service against Cable and Satellite services, and position the IPTV operator well in the looming battle against the PC and CE (consumer electronics) industries.

According to a new study from ABI Research, the market for home networking and connected entertainment devices will grow at an astonishing rate over the next few years, as the total value of home networking hardware, gateways, networked storage devices and networked entertainment devices rises from $14 billion in end-user revenue in 2005 to more than $85 billion by 2011. The major driver in overall revenue growth for this market is the transformation of most conventional consumer electronics devices such as game consoles, DVD players, TVs and portable media players from stand-alone devices to network-connected ones, using both wireless and wired IP communications technologies.

With the ongoing deregulation of the European telecommunications market and the subsequent entry of alternate service providers, incumbent telecom operators are witnessing a sharp decline in revenues from traditional business streams. Technologies such as voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and broadband over cable modem are further contributing to this trend and to offset this decline as well as to reverse the downward trend in their customer base, telecom operators are beginning to focus on delivering bundled services that provide higher revenues and growth. IPTV is one such service, which while complementing the bundle, also provides telecom operators with a defence strategy against the entry of cable operators in the telephony business.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the eMarketer report: French Connections: The Triple Play Triumphs to their offering.

France has opened its formerly monopolistic telecommunications market to competitors, and other countries are watching the result. "Triple play" services have helped push broadband adoption to more than 75% of all French Internet users--the highest in Western Europe. Up to 40% of all French consumers will soon be using VoIP and IPTV is also on the rise.

European telecoms operators must develop strategies tailored to local markets if IPTV - television over broadband - is to be a revenue earner rather than simply a product differentiator, according to Telco TV: European market opportunities and operator strategies, a new report from Analysys, the global advisers on telecoms, IT and media.

A new survey finds that the nation's most tech-savvy electronics consumers are beginning to consider IPTV - a mix of new interactive television and communication offerings delivered via broadband and Internet protocol - as a viable option to today's cable and satellite offerings. The survey, sponsored by Siemens Communications Inc., was conducted by market research firm In-Stat.

Eighteen percent of early adopters, who now subscribe to cable or satellite television, said they "probably" or "definitely" would switch to get IPTV television services from their telephone company provider. If given a 10 percent savings offering on an IPTV package, an additional 34 percent of the remaining non-committed early adopters said they "probably" or "definitely" would switch.

The most popular services that early adopters said they are most willing to pay extra for included Time-shifted TV, Video Telephony/Chat, Video Home Surveillance and Gaming.

Consumers around the globe are confused about what Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) means, according to a survey released by Accenture.

The survey of 6,000 consumers across the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and Italy found that 46 percent do not understand the term IPTV - whereby broadcast-quality digital television is delivered over an Internet-enabled telephone network.