After a decade of trial and error IPTV is ready to make a comeback, but its progress will be slow.

Around the world we see that IPTV is driven by high-speed broadband deployment – Fttx rollouts in particular are generating a significant uptake of these services. It is envisaged that the NBN will play a key role in these developments in Australia.

In 2010 Telstra launched its new IPTV service and it expects that the video content service will constitute more than 90% of consumer traffic by 2013.

Growth is continuing at a slow pace, in all there are some 300,000 ITV subscribers, with Telstra having close to a 70% market share in 2012.

Several TV manufacturers, including LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, Sony and Toshiba, are also coming on board with their integrated TV models (smartTV) for IPTV services. LG and Telstra agreed to deliver seven TV channels to the LG NetCast-enabled TVs. BigPond Movies Online is also available on the LG TVs. The technology used to deliver the user experience is based on Google’s Widevine adaptive streaming technology, which delivers content of as high a quality as the line speed can provide.

Pay TV bundling is also proving a winner for Telstra, with revenue increasing by nearly 16%. However, the complexity of its relationship with Foxtel, plus its inflexibility around offering products in a customer-friendly and competitive way, makes these scenarios extremely cumbersome. In the end it looks as though Foxtel will lose this battle.

Optus launched its IPTV service in late 2011. It joined other telcos and ISPs who had all put their weight behind the fetchtv model. Its legal win in relation to its smartphone offering gave the service a great deal of free advertising and boosted its position in this market.

Furthermore, Google TV and Apple TV are expected to become major contenders in this space.

Other IPTV offerings include:

• TransACT provides over 50 digital channels via its TransTV service. The service is supplied on a subscription basis and includes a PVR STB;
• TPG provides its IPTV service free, with access to about 15 channels, but it is also poised to move over to the fetchtv model.
• Sony Bravia TV has internet video, offering access to SBS, ABC’s iView and Seven’s catch-up TV services.

FTA broadcasters are providing an increasing selection of their programs via their websites. Both public and private broadcasters compete and the ABC, with its iView platform, has enjoyed significant success in attracting viewers. After YouTube it is the most popular IPTV service In Australia.