SubscribeIs the Internet Ready for Mainstream IPTV?
Posted in IPTV, News on August 16th, 2007. By Eduard F. Vinyamata.
Several articles this week discuss the readiness of the Internet, in it’s current form, to adapt to a mainstream use of IPTV. Most ISP’s would probably say that the Internet is not ready for mainstream IPTV, or in other words, that they are not ready to provide the bandwidth this would require, under the current broadband payment plans.
For example, take the following article from NewTeeVee: Jackson West argues that not only current US DSL lines are not fast enough for a wide use of Joost, but that the service providers aren’t interested in increasing connection speeds as this could potentially collide with their own video delivery offerings.
TechCrunch explains in this other article the situation from an European point of view. In this case, service providers are complaining about current bandwidth limits and the difficulty they are having providing service under the success of the BBC’s new TV player, the iPlayer. Watching TV Online points out how ISP’s feel that video publishers are transferring their distribution costs to the ISP. This new demand, according to Om Malik, would be translated in up to $2 billion on new bandwidth investments and this cost should in turn be payed by broadband customers themselves.
Both the US conflict of interest and the EU’s need to meet new bandwidth demands ultimately take us back to the net neutrality debate.
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