TV's not going anywhere -- it's going everywhere

It was a good week for television viewing on all screens. Market Research Group's market leaders report showed that IPTV is going strong despite the recession. Start-up Nokeena emerged from stealth mode to launch software designed to give online video the quality of normal TV. And on the mobile front, Capital Broadcasting in Raleigh, N.C., was the first to turn on mobile digital television in its local busses.

These three disparate announcements support the notion that consumers are turning toward new forms of TV viewing, but they aren't yet giving up their traditional paid-TV service. Even with the economy in shambles, there is ample opportunity to innovate with TV services and mediums. More than 35 new IPTV operations began trials or deployments across the globe in the past six months, and those telcos already in deployment are starting to look at ways to increase personalization and interactivity. While some of the new TV entrants took the hybrid approach to increase time to market and decrease spending, very few today are remaining on the sidelines.

Mobile TV and video have had their share of skeptics, and, while the mobile channel is still a new medium for most, advancements such as the launch of the Open Mobile Video Coalition's free-to-air service and Nokeena's promise of improved quality are taking away two of the biggest barriers to adoption: price and shoddy user experience. More services are coming to market in 2009, too. Qualcomm's MediaFLO — postponed with the delay of the digital transition — is forging ahead this year under the leadership of new CEO Bill Stone. Application stores also have given a boost to mobile TV, with companies such as QuickPlay launching a video download service for BlackBerrys and PacketVideo bringing live TV to the iPhone.

Online video on the PC and mobile Web is exploding as well. YouTube, Hulu and Yahoo! — the top three sites for streaming video, according to Nielsen — serve up more than six billion streams between them. In March alone, 9.6 billion streams were viewed by 130 million U.S. consumers, which is 9% higher than the previous month and 39% higher than the same time last year. YouTube today announced that it would begin distributing ad-supported premium shows and movies and full-length content for free on the Web, alongside its user-generated content.

TV and video, across all screens, clearly is a market ripe for innovation today — especially as it proves relatively recession-proof and indispensible to consumers. While bandwidth constraints and disruptive services present roadblocks to service providers, they have little choice but to keep up with online players, innovate and experiment with IPTV and give mobile TV a fighting chance.

TV momentum will continue through next week at the National Association of Broadcasters Show. Carol Wilson will be covering the show from Las Vegas, so check back for coverage. As always, we'd love to hear your feedback too.

Also, anyone interested in learning more about how IPTV providers are personalizing the TV experience can also tune into Telephony's upcoming Webcast on the topic, scheduled for Wednesday, April 28.

Email me at sreedy@telephonyonline.com.