BUILDING ON THE THREE Cs

IPTV will enable telcos to offer a very broad range of programming, including multiple language offerings, which target smaller customer groups that would not otherwise be cost-effective to serve in a broadcast model.

“There are a number of different ways to making video-on-demand available, whether that is a video store or a pay-per-view kind of model,” said Daniel Marcus, broadband product marketing manager at broadband equipment vendor UTStarcom. “One of the major things we hear about is local content introduction — giving people the opportunity to access content from their community.”

Again, the flexibility of IPTV to multicast video streams could enable telephone companies to offer very specific local content, he added, such as high school football games, community meetings and more that are specific to small communities or suburban areas.

User-generated content is another potential growth area in which telcos could shine because of their more symmetric bandwidth delivery.

“We think user-generated content is a huge element,” said SBC's Weber. “To be able to share home videos or pictures with your specific audience will be important.”

Ultimately, all content becomes customized, Calix's Wiener said.

“Today, there is a whole generation of consumers who will pay a small premium to download songs at 99 cents each to get exactly the songs they want,” he said. “This generation is growing up with personalized content. The telcos have a real opportunity to serve that market.”