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The Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) delivers television programming to households via a broadband connection using Internet protocols.
It requires a subscription and IPTV set-top box, and offers advantages over existing TV cable and satellite technologies. IPTV is typically bundled with other services like Video on Demand (VOD), voice over IP (VOIP) or digital phone, and Web access, collectively referred to as Triple Play.
The power of producing and distributing content no longer belongs solely to studios and technology vendors it has shifted to the consumer and consumer communities that produce, utilise and interact with the large volumes of content available today.
"IPTV is such a significant invention that the analysts predict around 50 million IPTV subscribers worldwide by 2010. As viewing habits evolve from a passive consumption of TV to an interactive user experience, IPTV service providers need to quickly recognise and exploit the market opportunities that lie ahead," said Nasir Ahmad Bhutta, a leading IT expert while talking to reporters. "BitBand's IPTV technology serves more than 40 commercial IPTV deployments worldwide, including such pioneering IPTV deployments as Tele2 in Holland, ON Telecoms in Greece, FASTWEB in Italy and Connexion in the US, among others. BitBand partners with system integrators and suppliers of other components in the IPTV value chain to provide operators with a complete end-to-end solution," he said.
Bhutta added more and more alternative service providers are offering IPTV services, opening up the market and driving growth and competition. "Traditional communications players will be forced to present a differentiated offer, either through the introduction of new value-added services or competitively priced entertainment packages," he added.
Salman Abduhu, anopther IT wizard, said the IPTV is the TV "of the people, for the people" will continue to grow in popularity. "The users are driving content and will want to incorporate that content as part of their traditional TV experience. Targeted advertising is another phenomenon making its way from the Internet to the IPTV experience, providing another tool for revenue generation and subscriber retention. The trend of increased migration of TV consumption from linear to non-linear TV (TV On-Demand) will pick up pace, driven by innovative new ways of serving TV in a time-shifted manner and excess bandwidth available in the Next Generation networks," he added.
Farooq Azam, a leading business icon said, "We expect significant increase in concurrent viewers of such services. Beijing 2008 Olympic Games emerged as the prime focus of dominant driver for IPTV expansion and adoption across China and world. Beijing's efforts to leverage this event for the world stage, coupled with the desire of service providers across the globe to deliver Olympic events to subscribers in all forms and on all devices prompted service innovation, technology development and regulation flexibility, speeding up the pace of change and stimulating even more progress in the IPTV space," he added.
"In this regard, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) made history by launching PTCL Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) on August 14, this year, under the brand name 'PTCL Smart'. The 'PTCL Smart' has been introduced for PTCL's products that are more intelligent than their normal versions. PTCL 'Smart Line' service includes Interactive Television, Broadband and voice Telephony all at the same time on PTCL's telephone line. This initiative has taken the country amongst the proud nations providing their people with a luxury like IPTV," he said.
Dr Sadikal Jadir, SEVP Commercial, PTCL, said the most revolutionary section of this offering was the interactive Television, branded under 'Smart TV', which for the first time in Pakistan offered TV viewers the power to control the TV channels interactively.
"This includes the ability to rewind and pause the live TV channels, the ability to block/unblock any TV channel for parental lock and the ability to search through video on demand content. This service is currently available in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, but will be soon available in other broadband cities during the course of the year," he said.
"Smart TV service is absolutely free until the beginning of October 2008. Since the launch, in less than a month's time, PTCL received more than 5,000 customers' applications for PTCL 'Smart line'," he added. Salient features of this service include Easy Registration Process, Multiple Tariff Packages, Video on Demand (VoD), Time Shifted Television, Parental Control, Electronic Program Guides (EPG), Global Television Channels, Near Video on Demand (NVoD) and many more.
'Smart TV' provides advanced features and services that are not possible with traditional broadcast television systems. These advanced features include Time Shifted Television, Parental Control, Electronic Program Guides (EPG), Global Television Channels, Video on Demand (VoD), Near Video on Demand (NVoD) and many more interactive features.
Time Shifted Television (TSTV): Time Shifted Television is an exciting feature that allows viewers to playback live TV channels at any time they want. So when the viewer misses an important part of a movie, a play or a sporting event, he can view it by 'rewinding' that particular channel (displaying the symbol), watching the missed part and then coming back to live action. This function will be available to the TV viewers for the first time in Pakistan and only through the PTCL Smart TV service.
Parental Control: This feature enables parents to restrict certain channels, which are not suitable for juvenile viewing. Restriction is enabled by assigning a password to particular channel(s) thus empowering parents to control the content their children can watch.
EPG (Electronic Program Guide): Electronic Program Guide (EPG) is an extremely responsive and feature-rich application that manages viewer interaction during channel and program selection. It is an on-screen guide to schedule broadcast television programs, allowing viewers to navigate, select, and discover content by time, title, channel, genre, etc, by use of their remote control. It also provides access to billing details, changing password and managing favorites.
VoD is a service that provides end users to interactively request and receive videos. VoD permits a customer to select a program from a catalogue using EPG (Electronic Program Guide). The play out of the selected movie starts nearly instantaneously on the customer's TV. A film that is chosen, for example, will be available for multiple viewing during 24 hours without any extra charge.
NVOD (Near Video On Demand): NVoD is another exciting feature working like a community TV Channel. A number of channels are allocated for NVoD. Popular or recently released movies and programs are played on NVoD channels and are available to all Smart TV viewers.
Difference between VoD & NVoD is that VoD is a personalized service catering only to individual needs, on payment whereas NVoD is like community cinema available to all Smart TV customers at no extra cost. In case of NVoD channels, customer feedback plays a pivotal role in content selection.
Easy Registration Process: Customers can simply visit one of PTCL's customer service centers within their city and subscribe for PTCL Smart from there or can just call activation number on 0800-80800 and place the order.
Reduction in Barrier to entry: There is no upfront payment for the service and the set of box is also available on easy monthly installments.
Multiple Tariff Packages: The service is offered in multiple tariffs, which includes 'Smart Line' Tariff, which is 512 Kbps for Rs 1499/month; 2Mbps for Rs 5299/month and 1Mbps for Rs 2299/month. The package also includes equipment charges with one time Purchase Price Rs. 9995 and STB Rental/month Mandatory for 24 Months Rs 500.
Other Charges include Video on Demand (VOD) will be charged at Rs 50 and first 5 VOD are absolutely free; Voice Calls will be charged at actual, as per regular voice call charges; For PTCL Smart line connection you will need an STB which you can purchase or have it on rental basis from PTCL.
With PTCL Smart Connection, you get voice, Broadband and TV on one fixed connection. Voice calls facility, Broadband that keeps you connected to high speed internet all the time, With Smart line facility you can enjoy watching clear picture quality television channels with no breakdowns or bad reception, parental control, interactivity, electronic program guides, time shift television, video on demand and much more.
The PTCL digital multi-channel Television service has delivered television programs to households via a broadband connection using the Internet Protocol (IP) technology.
Smart TV offers 12 channels operating, including all news/entertainment /business TV channels besides six PTCL's own channels. The service requires subscription and Customer Premises Equipment (CPE). An IP-based platform allows the TV service to be 'smarter' than the traditional broadcast and cable TV services, by making the TV viewing experience more interactive and personalised.
It requires a subscription and IPTV set-top box, and offers advantages over existing TV cable and satellite technologies. IPTV is typically bundled with other services like Video on Demand (VOD), voice over IP (VOIP) or digital phone, and Web access, collectively referred to as Triple Play.
The power of producing and distributing content no longer belongs solely to studios and technology vendors it has shifted to the consumer and consumer communities that produce, utilise and interact with the large volumes of content available today.
"IPTV is such a significant invention that the analysts predict around 50 million IPTV subscribers worldwide by 2010. As viewing habits evolve from a passive consumption of TV to an interactive user experience, IPTV service providers need to quickly recognise and exploit the market opportunities that lie ahead," said Nasir Ahmad Bhutta, a leading IT expert while talking to reporters. "BitBand's IPTV technology serves more than 40 commercial IPTV deployments worldwide, including such pioneering IPTV deployments as Tele2 in Holland, ON Telecoms in Greece, FASTWEB in Italy and Connexion in the US, among others. BitBand partners with system integrators and suppliers of other components in the IPTV value chain to provide operators with a complete end-to-end solution," he said.
Bhutta added more and more alternative service providers are offering IPTV services, opening up the market and driving growth and competition. "Traditional communications players will be forced to present a differentiated offer, either through the introduction of new value-added services or competitively priced entertainment packages," he added.
Salman Abduhu, anopther IT wizard, said the IPTV is the TV "of the people, for the people" will continue to grow in popularity. "The users are driving content and will want to incorporate that content as part of their traditional TV experience. Targeted advertising is another phenomenon making its way from the Internet to the IPTV experience, providing another tool for revenue generation and subscriber retention. The trend of increased migration of TV consumption from linear to non-linear TV (TV On-Demand) will pick up pace, driven by innovative new ways of serving TV in a time-shifted manner and excess bandwidth available in the Next Generation networks," he added.
Farooq Azam, a leading business icon said, "We expect significant increase in concurrent viewers of such services. Beijing 2008 Olympic Games emerged as the prime focus of dominant driver for IPTV expansion and adoption across China and world. Beijing's efforts to leverage this event for the world stage, coupled with the desire of service providers across the globe to deliver Olympic events to subscribers in all forms and on all devices prompted service innovation, technology development and regulation flexibility, speeding up the pace of change and stimulating even more progress in the IPTV space," he added.
"In this regard, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) made history by launching PTCL Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) on August 14, this year, under the brand name 'PTCL Smart'. The 'PTCL Smart' has been introduced for PTCL's products that are more intelligent than their normal versions. PTCL 'Smart Line' service includes Interactive Television, Broadband and voice Telephony all at the same time on PTCL's telephone line. This initiative has taken the country amongst the proud nations providing their people with a luxury like IPTV," he said.
Dr Sadikal Jadir, SEVP Commercial, PTCL, said the most revolutionary section of this offering was the interactive Television, branded under 'Smart TV', which for the first time in Pakistan offered TV viewers the power to control the TV channels interactively.
"This includes the ability to rewind and pause the live TV channels, the ability to block/unblock any TV channel for parental lock and the ability to search through video on demand content. This service is currently available in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, but will be soon available in other broadband cities during the course of the year," he said.
"Smart TV service is absolutely free until the beginning of October 2008. Since the launch, in less than a month's time, PTCL received more than 5,000 customers' applications for PTCL 'Smart line'," he added. Salient features of this service include Easy Registration Process, Multiple Tariff Packages, Video on Demand (VoD), Time Shifted Television, Parental Control, Electronic Program Guides (EPG), Global Television Channels, Near Video on Demand (NVoD) and many more.
'Smart TV' provides advanced features and services that are not possible with traditional broadcast television systems. These advanced features include Time Shifted Television, Parental Control, Electronic Program Guides (EPG), Global Television Channels, Video on Demand (VoD), Near Video on Demand (NVoD) and many more interactive features.
Time Shifted Television (TSTV): Time Shifted Television is an exciting feature that allows viewers to playback live TV channels at any time they want. So when the viewer misses an important part of a movie, a play or a sporting event, he can view it by 'rewinding' that particular channel (displaying the symbol), watching the missed part and then coming back to live action. This function will be available to the TV viewers for the first time in Pakistan and only through the PTCL Smart TV service.
Parental Control: This feature enables parents to restrict certain channels, which are not suitable for juvenile viewing. Restriction is enabled by assigning a password to particular channel(s) thus empowering parents to control the content their children can watch.
EPG (Electronic Program Guide): Electronic Program Guide (EPG) is an extremely responsive and feature-rich application that manages viewer interaction during channel and program selection. It is an on-screen guide to schedule broadcast television programs, allowing viewers to navigate, select, and discover content by time, title, channel, genre, etc, by use of their remote control. It also provides access to billing details, changing password and managing favorites.
VoD is a service that provides end users to interactively request and receive videos. VoD permits a customer to select a program from a catalogue using EPG (Electronic Program Guide). The play out of the selected movie starts nearly instantaneously on the customer's TV. A film that is chosen, for example, will be available for multiple viewing during 24 hours without any extra charge.
NVOD (Near Video On Demand): NVoD is another exciting feature working like a community TV Channel. A number of channels are allocated for NVoD. Popular or recently released movies and programs are played on NVoD channels and are available to all Smart TV viewers.
Difference between VoD & NVoD is that VoD is a personalized service catering only to individual needs, on payment whereas NVoD is like community cinema available to all Smart TV customers at no extra cost. In case of NVoD channels, customer feedback plays a pivotal role in content selection.
Easy Registration Process: Customers can simply visit one of PTCL's customer service centers within their city and subscribe for PTCL Smart from there or can just call activation number on 0800-80800 and place the order.
Reduction in Barrier to entry: There is no upfront payment for the service and the set of box is also available on easy monthly installments.
Multiple Tariff Packages: The service is offered in multiple tariffs, which includes 'Smart Line' Tariff, which is 512 Kbps for Rs 1499/month; 2Mbps for Rs 5299/month and 1Mbps for Rs 2299/month. The package also includes equipment charges with one time Purchase Price Rs. 9995 and STB Rental/month Mandatory for 24 Months Rs 500.
Other Charges include Video on Demand (VOD) will be charged at Rs 50 and first 5 VOD are absolutely free; Voice Calls will be charged at actual, as per regular voice call charges; For PTCL Smart line connection you will need an STB which you can purchase or have it on rental basis from PTCL.
With PTCL Smart Connection, you get voice, Broadband and TV on one fixed connection. Voice calls facility, Broadband that keeps you connected to high speed internet all the time, With Smart line facility you can enjoy watching clear picture quality television channels with no breakdowns or bad reception, parental control, interactivity, electronic program guides, time shift television, video on demand and much more.
The PTCL digital multi-channel Television service has delivered television programs to households via a broadband connection using the Internet Protocol (IP) technology.
Smart TV offers 12 channels operating, including all news/entertainment /business TV channels besides six PTCL's own channels. The service requires subscription and Customer Premises Equipment (CPE). An IP-based platform allows the TV service to be 'smarter' than the traditional broadcast and cable TV services, by making the TV viewing experience more interactive and personalised.
