Synopsis
IPTV delivers broadband to the TV and puts the viewer in control. With the arrival of the Internet, content became more prominent and video-based applications were revived in order to deliver them over the Internet. The file-sharing features of the Internet created the success of Napster. Similar peer-to-peer file sharing initiatives show that multi-media file sharing remains a key application. More specifically, multi-media file sharing can be seen as a subset of webcasting, of which streaming data/audio/video and VoD are other examples. New DSL based-broadband networks are now rapidly moving into triple play business models, delivering voice, data and video services. The business model for IPTV however, is not viable. Customers are more interested in the web based broadband video applications rather than IP based TV.