Not Ready for Prime Time: CTAM Panel Mulls Over IPTV

The idea of putting video entertainment on the ever-expanding IP pipe is "several years down the road," even for Verizon, which is building a fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network with seemingly unlimited bandwidth. Television eventually will be part of the applications running over the IP pipe, but it’s an "evolutionary process," said Robert Ingalls, president of Verizon’s Retail Markets Group, speaking at a panel session, "IPTV: Heavyweight or Featherweight?" during the CTAM Summit in Philadelphia this week. And, contrary to some suggestions being made, IPTV is "not just a telco solution" and is not delivering television over the Internet, said Ed Graczyk, Microsoft TV marketing director. Calling IPTV a "horrible term for the consumer," Graczyk pointed out "it’s TV like you know and love" but also a "richer overall experience because it’s not a broadcast environment." Satellite, Enemy No. 1 In fact, IPTV, despite Microsoft’s ardent support, appears hardly worth chasing these days for cable or telephone companies. "This is a marketing conference. It’s become a catch phrase for next-generation video," said Dallas Clement, senior vice president of strategy and development for Cox Communications. "Before we worry about IPTV we have to worry about DBS." While there are "a lot of IP technologies already on our network," Clement said the move to IPTV is not in the near future. IP, he said, can continue to run on its own pipe aside from the high-speed data and telephony while the MSO battles the ongoing satellite threat. "Right now the focus is on DirecTV," Clement said. "That’s real; that’s competitive." Right now, even with companies like Verizon entering the mix, IPTV is not yet real, even according to Microsoft’s Graczyk. "IPTV," he concluded, "is kind of the future for everyone." For more on IPTV internationally, see Weekly Pix.