Phone Lines Deliver Next-Gen TV

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,65105,00.html

Wired via Reuters
03:44 PM Sep. 27, 2004 PT

"Video on demand essentially works as a pre-loaded digital video recorder, like TiVo or Sky+, with the content stored on a central server. For example, HomeChoice's music channels function as a customized MTV or VH1, letting subscribers choose which videos they want to watch.

It seems incredible that the company could squeeze so many channels, plus a high-speed internet connection, through the same copper phone wire that has been used for decades. But unlike cable and satellite, which typically have to broadcast all of their channels at once, HomeChoice sends out only one channel of video at a time, customizing it for each subscriber.

Its network, which piggybacks onto the much larger network of BT Group, is within reach of about 1.25 million homes in London, and will be extended to other U.K. cities in 2005. The company recently signed a deal with Britain's dominant pay-TV firm, BSkyB, to offer the Sky Movies and Sky Sports channels.

HomeChoice and other TVIP operators face a number of obstacles, including limited availability -- TVIP requires an internet connection of at least 2 Mbps -- and the difficult task of describing their services to an audience of non-techies. But delivering TV over phone lines has the potential to transform staid telecommunications companies, and to give cable and satellite a run for their customers.

"The telcos' agenda with TV and video is different from the one they had 10 years ago," the analyst and consulting firm Ovum wrote in a research note this week. "Back then, the question was: 'Can we afford to do this?' Now, the question is: 'Can we afford not to do this?'" "