Power center shifting in IPTV

SAN DIEGO—In the emerging IPTV world, the center power is moving away from set-top box vendors and toward a more diverse group of software and content providers, according to Andrew Bovingdon, head of marketing and product management for ANT Software.

What makes the statement somewhat unique is that ANT generally has relied on its relationships with set-top makers to get into the telco video.

“If you go back a year, the set-top box vendors had all the power,” he said, during an interview at Telco TV. “What’s changed is that this isn’t about deploying a TV service over a broadband connection. The functionality of the service is what it’s all about.”

ANT, which bills itself as a content presentation and control technology vendor, also is seeing a lot more interest from telcos in deploying video services that are more integrated into other communications technology. As such, there really are two opportunities for carriers, Bovingdon said. The first is additional revenue from traditional video. The second—and more appealing—is the “long-tail” syndrome where a viewer might for example, pause a movie to look up information on an actor in the film, see that they’re in a currently playing release and buy tickets—all without leaving their sofa.

“Right now, that person gets up from the coach and walks over to the PC,” he said. “As soon as he stands up and walks, the revenue opportunity is lost.”

Moreover, Bovingdon see some natural IPTV applications for telcos such as messaging and the ability to create circles of users among social and familial groups.

“This friends and family stuff is what they know best,” he said.