Telstra opts out of Microsoft TV

Telstra said today that it has decided not to move forward with a plan to deploy IPTV services using Microsoft TV's platform, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Telstra, according to Microsoft, was one of more than a dozen large telcos that was part of its early adopter program, but had chosen not to announce its participation. In a prepared statement issued today, Ed Graczyk, director of marketing, Microsoft TV Division said, "Microsoft and Telstra have been discussing IPTV and the benefits that Microsoft TV IPTV Edition can bring to service providers like Telstra for a while now. Telstra is still evaluating its IPTV strategy and has not made any decision about selecting vendors. We are confident that we will continue to work together and enhance our partnership further."

Telstra, according to the Journal, pulled out of the pact in part because its network was not ready to handle the bandwidth demands of deploying IPTV. Other carriers, including SBC and Swisscom have said over the past few weeks that they are moving forward with plans to deploy the Microsoft TV platform but perhaps not as fast as originally thought. At Supercomm two weeks ago, Edward Cholerton, vice president of broadband marketing for SBC, said the carrier was in Alpha trials of the platform and still committed to rolling out the first commercial service by the end of this year.

However, according to Brian Baker, president and CEO of IPTV software vendor Widevine, many larger carriers are starting to recognize that Microsoft's platform is inherently closed, a charge that Microsoft officials have vehemently denied in the past.

"The ability to put independent vendors in and create a competitive open system drives down the cost," he said. "It's really the MSTV platform that is breaking the back of the business of IPTV."