London-based Inuk Networks has launched an IPTV service, dubbed Freewire TV, which it says uses multicast to deliver broadcast-quality TV over closed networks. According to the company, the new service will ultimately be targeted at the UK’s "digitally disenfranchised"–the 6 million or so households that are unable to receive high-quality digital TV by any other means. The service currently offers a range of UK and international free-to-air digital TV channels, and is initially targeted at the approximately 500,000 students in university residence halls who are able to access the JANET network (note: the latter is a high-speed network that connects all higher education establishments in the UK; Inuk began technical trials of Freewire TV in early 2006 with UKERNA, the organization that manages the JANET network): Inuk says that it has signed contracts with the University of Leeds and the University of Liverpool to provide the service to students in those institutions’ residence halls. According to the company, universities can offer the service to their students with very little effort or cost, and without the need to install any additional capital equipment.
Inuk claims that Freewire TV can be delivered over any multicast-enabled IP network: because it uses bandwidth-efficient multicast technology, which allows a large number of channels to be carried without significant network loading, the company says, content is fed into the network only once. The content is encoded in MPEG-4 H.264. According to the company, its Freewire delivery platform, over which Freewire TV runs, is capable of supporting voice and broadband data services for a full triple-play offering. The company says that it plans to launch a residential version of Freewire TV early next year, along with premium channels and content. "Inuk is currently working with local loop unbundlers and service providers to ensure that the Freewire TV service has the widest reach possible," Inuk CEO, Marcus Liassides, said in a prepared statement. "Providing ISP’s and telcos with a digital TV solution that can be packaged up with services including voice and broadband access is proving very compelling to the industry."
Originally Published: November 6, 2006 in [itvt] Issue 7.03 Part 2
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