Courageous pioneers

Feb 8, 2002 12:00 PM

The year 2001 was an exciting one for the young TV-over-broadband industry. It was the year in which this industry evolved from being a great idea with a handful of somewhat tentative trials (and even fewer commercial deployments), into a great idea with some real momentum and a moneymaking proposition. During the coming year, we will see some of the courageous pioneers of this early industry prove their business models and their service offerings. Those risk-takers that succeed will provide examples that others may follow or adapt. In this spirit, we share the profile of a broadband network operator with ambitious plans in the TV-over-broadband business.

IT'S TV Co., located in Seoul, Korea, provides TV-based services designed for consumers, as well as high-speed data services for businesses. For consumers, it offers video-on-demand (VOD), multichannel multicast TV and specialized TV programming such as events, concerts, music and children's shows, along with broadband Internet service to computers (not to TV sets). All these services are designed for simultaneous delivery over broadband IP networks.

According to Mr. S.H. Chun, general manager of technology planning for IT'S TV, the company had initially planned to serve subscribers directly. So during 2001, IT'S TV selected its technology partners, implemented its systems and engaged in limited trials directly with about 400 test subscribers.

As IT'S TV continued to turn its plans from concept to reality, the company decided that it could provide its services to service providers, expanding and accelerating its reach in the market. Now, IT'S TV intends to partner with broadband ISPs and equip them to deliver both data and TV-based services. During the first half of 2002, IT'S TV will perform a new round of trials in cooperation with a partner ISP company and that ISP's subscribers. If IT'S TV is able to maintain its currently planned course, it will have deployed its services to more than 350,000 paying subscribers by the middle of 2003.

"Each ISP has its own network,” said Mr. Chun. "Depending upon the ISP, the IT'S TV service will be delivered over VDSL, ADSL or HDSL. In fact, fiber-to-the-home is not a problem because our entire concept is built upon IP."

In addition to the network, the following elements reside in a centralized location:

Just as important as the equipment and software technology is the subscriber's user interface--the visual design elements that invite the subscriber to experience the full range of available broadcast programming and purchase movies-on-demand. To see the attractive and simple IT'S TV user interface, go to their Web site, http://www.its-tv.com, and look at their interactive demo. (Note that the Home page is in Korean, but there's a link to an English language site at the bottom of the page.)

When asked about some of the challenges, Mr. Chun was quick to explain that as a telecommunications service provider, content acquisition was not one of its strengths. Therefore, IT'S TV established a separate company, expressly for the purpose of obtaining movies and TV programming. "We are recruiting people that are strong in content aggregation, who have contacts with the major studios, like Universal, Columbia, HBO and others," he said.

Another of Mr. Chun's hopes is to prove to the world that TV-over-broadband is a concept and a service to believe in. Service providers all over the world are finding this out--and many believe that 2002 is the pivotal year. 

Although IT'S TV is in Korea, a long way from the United States where most of our readers reside, IT'S TV is an example that demonstrates that TV-over-broadband and interactive TV services are truly a worldwide phenomenon. As I mentioned in an earlier column, the majority of commercial deployments are outside of the U.S., not within. However, in the United States, quite a few telecommunications service providers are now ramping up to provide TV-over-broadband services, either directly to subscribers or via partners that serve the subscribers.

Many of these American service providers are now in the process of running trials, and some are moving into commercial launches during early 2002. Most of those are independent telcos and telephone cooperatives. One with which I am personally acquainted is following a model similar to that of IT'S TV: a service provider serving service providers. We shall continue to look at the progress, the successes and the foibles of network operators and telecommunications service providers in the U.S. and around the world as the year progresses.

Steve Hawley is a consulting analyst and president of Advanced Media Strategies, Issaquah, Wash.  He can be reached via his Web site, http://www.tvstrategies.com.

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