IPTV services set to reach 70 million homes by 2014

The latest subscriber forecast for the IPTV market has been released by Informa Telecoms & Media group. It predicts that 70 million homes globally will be receiving IPTV services by the end of 2014. Whilst, this is only five per cent of homes with TV sets, this is a massive increase on the 26 million subscribers recorded at the close of 2009.

28 million of the 70 million is expected to occur in Asia-Pacific which is forecasted to become the largest region in terms of IPTV subscribers by 2011.

For more information click here.

HbbTV, a true hybrid solution

If you have a spare few minutes and are interested in learning a little more about the HbbTV initiative there’s an article in the latest edition of Cable & Satellite International that’s certainly worth a read. The article is written by Steve Morris, Systems Architect here at ANT who has contributed extensively to MHP, Open IPTV Forum and HbbTV. Steve is also the author of “Interactive TV Standards: A Guide to MHP, OCAP and JavaTV.

Sky announces TV Widget

Sky has announced that its popular Sky News app will now be available on connected TV’s from Samsung. The widget enables viewers to access news headlines whilst watching other TV programmes.

A similar application has already proved popular on the iPhone and iPod Touch but Sky’s refocus on the TV highlights the move towards TV based widgets in addition to mobile.

This is a promising development for TV Widgets, demonstrating the potential for device manufacturers to aim for the same scope of TV widgets as we have iPhone applications.

Happy New Year

I hope everyone enjoyed their respective Christmas holidays. Whilst the snow continues to fall around us, we’re busy planning for 2010.

In the next few days, our eyes will be firmly fixed on the world's biggest technology conference, The Consumer Electronics Show, which kicks off in Las Vegas tomorrow. It is well known for revealing landmark innovations, which previous announcements including the compact disc player, the VCR, high-definition TV and Blu-ray.

So, what announcements are expected for the TV this year? Well, it was impossible to miss the 3D hype at IBC so I expect to see more at CES. But, I guess we should wait and see.