Phone Companies Get into the TV Business

Author

Ortiz, Sixto, Jr.

Volume

39

Issue

10

fYear

2006

Firstpage

12

Lastpage

15

Abstract

Competition in the telecommunications industry has become fierce in the past few years, and phone companies have increasingly found themselves on the losing end. Competition from wireline, cellular, and voice over IP (VoIP) services, including those from cable TV companies, has reduced telephone carriers\´ customer bases, prices, and profit margins. To accomplish their goals, phone carriers are trying to provide the "triple play" of voice, video, and data services, which cable TV companies already offer. IPTV uses IP networks to deliver TV programming from a central location to a base of multiple subscribers. In addition to software that provides basic functionality, IPTV systems run middleware and both back-office and digital rights management (DRM) software

Keywords

IP networks; Internet telephony; digital television; interactive television; middleware; multimedia communication; security of data; telecommunication computing; telecommunication security; television broadcasting; television networks; transport protocols; visual communication; IP network; IPTV system; TV business; TV programming; VoIP services; back-office software; cable TV company; cellular services; data services; digital rights management software; middleware; phone company; profit margin; telecommunications industry; video services; voice over IP services; wireline services; Application software; Companies; Content management; Hardware; IPTV; Middleware; TV; Telecommunications; Telephony; Video recording; IPTV systems;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Computer

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9162

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/MC.2006.353

Filename

1707627