IPTV Middleware and Beyond: Platforms for Operator Growth and the Millennial Generation

March 2009

This month, the [itvt] Industry Intelligence Program will issue a new report: IPTV Middleware and Beyond: Platforms for Operator Growth and the Millennial Generation.

The report, which was researched in late 2008 and early 2009, concludes that the latest advances in middleware appear set to quickly bring telcos past the point of merely replicating competing pay-TV services.

It argues that the driving force behind the evolution of the IPTV space is the latest generation of consumers, who are roughly in their teens and twenties. More so than older consumers, Millennials engage with video and other content on their own terms, rather than by appointment, and they insist on being in constant contact with their own communities of interest.

To meet the challenge that the Millennials represent, IPTV middleware has evolved to embrace service delivery platforms, "Web 2.0" technologies and emerging standards-based network architectures and protocols--which are identified in the report--in order to link services across fixed-line and mobile networks. Such common management also gives operators a single view of the subscriber, content, entitlements, security, consumer devices, provisioning, and transactions, helping them enable multi-play services across a spectrum of devices that includes the TV, PC, mobile smart phones, game consoles and dedicated home communications centers.

Together with IPTV middleware, advanced applications and service delivery platform technologies, the secret weapon that could push telcos past service and ARPU parity with competing pay-TV operators will be their networks. But as telcos and other broadband operators implement IPTV middleware and other enabling technologies, they have become hungry for collaborators that can help them develop, launch and refine interactive television applications that harness the power of their networks in an effort to drive new revenue and increase consumer loyalty.

The report provides an in-depth view and up-to-date examples of the features and use-cases being implemented in the current generation of IPTV middleware platforms that are being deployed by telcos around the world. It also compares in detail the video and multi-play functionality of 10 IPTV middleware platforms that are sold globally, and it demonstrates how the leading telecommunications network suppliers have leveraged client-server middleware architectures to assemble entire IPTV service delivery "ecosystems." Each of these suppliers cooperated directly during the research process.

Looking ahead, the report summarizes and details the business and technology trends that are driving the evolution of IPTV middleware and service delivery platforms, including trends in the broader telecommunications industry and IPTV service provider trends, and identifies the features and services that are capturing the attention of consumers. It also makes a range of broad and detailed recommendations for service providers that intend to launch IPTV services. It will be of direct interest to service providers, technology suppliers, investors and other broadband content stake-holders that are making high-impact strategic decisions in challenging economic times.

IPTV Middleware and Beyond: Platforms for Operator Growth and the Millennial Generation was researched and written by Steven Hawley, principal analyst of tvstrategies™, an IPTV consultancy, and is published and distributed by InteractiveTV Today [itvt], as part of the [itvt] Industry Intelligence Program (IIP).