Microsoft Opens Up

Microsoft has released the Beta version of its Mediaroom Presentation Framework. The company has made it available to nearly 150 businesses worldwide enabling operators to design their own IPTV-based services applications either directly or through third parties.

Microsoft has finally realised that opening up to third party developers is important in helping to move the industry forward. The company has taken a lot of stick from industry competitors in the past regarding the closed nature of its Mediaroom IPTV solution. However, this latest move is great news for operators, vendors and content developers alike. Open standards are critical in helping service providers deliver the next wave of innovative TV applications.

ANT has been advocating the important of standards for IPTV for some time and is an active member of the Open IPTV Forum. Richard Baker, Executive VP of Sales and Marketing at ANT, talks about it at length in a recent interview with Tracy Swedlow for Interactivetvtoday.com.

Game on

The latest news from the Microsoft camp at CES is that users of BT's combo broadband/movies BT Vision service will be able to view their service through Xbox 360s by mid-2008. The plan is that the XBox will become a media hub over time, although the lack of a Freeview Tuner still needs to be addressed.

Convergence of gaming platforms and IPTV is something that could potentially take-off, especially with younger audiences, with one box solving all your media needs. However, BT’s platform has yet to reach initial projections in the UK so the tie-up could struggle from the out set. This does, however, leave plenty of opportunity for other gaming companies to get in on the action early through their own strategic partnerships.

India ripe for IPTV

Microsoft and Reliance Communications will launch India's first high-definition internet television service next year.

The Indian market has all the right conditions for IPTV – a large TV-viewing population which is fond of TV and entertainment, a movie industry which produces the most films worldwide annually, and eased broadcasting restrictions which mean that scores of news and entertainment channels which have sprung up in the past decade.

However, whilst there are about 71-million homes in the country of 1.1 billion people who already have television, 61 percent of them currently have pay TV, mainly through cable and satellite, according to industry figures. Some say this could slow uptake of services, but perhaps it’s really pricing and content deals that will make or break it.

ANT's Saleha Williams on TelecomTV

TelecomTV has sided with ANT Software agreeing that Microsoft’s application for a patent that will allow advertisers to target viewers via bio-sensors and cameras in their homes as 'scary'.

ANT believes that such big brother tactics are unlikely to work and suggests that sponsorship of programming, combined with one to one highly targeted IPTV based advertising, will be the preferred model for TV advertising in the future. To see the full interview with Saleha Williams, Executive VP Commercial at ANT, click here.

Microsoft barking up wrong tree for TV advertising

Microsoft has applied for a patent that it plans to use to help TV advertisers provide more targeted adverts by placing a camera that sits on top of a TV. It would be able to detect the presence of a person and maybe even identify them.

There’s no doubt that TV needs to look at its advertising model very seriously, as the way in which people consume television is changing rapidly. But we’re not convinced that people would welcome the presence of a camera like this in their homes.

However, we do support moves to look at alternative revenue streams within TV advertising. One option is using the user interface, or menu, to host advertisements. However people consume TV – via mobile, downloaded from the internet, pre-recorded using Sky Plus or an equivalent system, or the plain old fashioned front room / sofa way – there will always be a menu used to navigate through the choices. As TV schedules get more personalised, it stands to reason that menus will do so as well, so what is there to prevent targeted advertising around those menus?

Operators need to provide new TV services much more quickly

Yesterday’s news that Comcast is to drop Microsoft’s cable-TV guide will not come as a shock to many. Operators across the world are realising that the ability to provide new TV services quickly and effectively could be a key differentiator in attracting and retaining consumers.

TV providers don’t want to be locked into technology solutions that provide little flexibility. In fact, we’re speaking to many operators who believe that only open standards client applications will enable them to take back control of when and how content is distributed. So, I think we’ll soon see a backlash against closed-systems.

The heart of the matter is that people want personalized TV, not just more TV. Content needs to be tailored and simple to access. Functionality needs to be easy to use and more importantly it needs to be relevant to the viewer.

Consumers in the future will expect more new and personalised services and many operators realise that they need to use open standards browsers in order to deliver these services to customers quickly and easily. Frequent introduction of new services is critical to operators keeping customers and increasing revenue.