Enriching IPTV Services and Infrastructure with Identity Management

IPTV is regarded as one of the key technologies of triple play services by telecommunication incumbents. It is seen as the differentiator to reduce customer churn. However, as more operators deploy this service, the factors for differentiation are dissolving rapidly. In this paper we present how identity management can enrich IPTV and thus provide a variety of new business opportunities that will foster an operator´s position and the contractual bindings with its customers. We present novel business models that are made possible by integrated identity management and describe their importance to the user. Furthermore, we address privacy aspects for IPTV service portfolios - a topic which is crucial to gain user acceptance for new services.