On Friday Telkom Media, a completely separate entity from Telkom Limited, demonstrated its Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) platform which is a service that the company plans to introduce during 2008.
IPTV has become a common denominator for systems where television and/or video signals are distributed to subscribers or viewers using a broadband connection over Internet Protocol. Often this is in parallel with the subscriber’s Internet connection, supplied by a broadband operator using the same infrastructure but over a dedicated bandwidth allocation.
IPTV is one of the services that will be made available on the next-generation network that Telkom is rolling out by upgrading their current ADSL exchanges to ADSL 2+. Telkom’s current ADSL offering allows for a maximum download speed of 1 Mbps however ADSL 2+ allows for download speeds in excess of 20 Mbps which will make IPTV a reality in South Africa.
Telkom Media has applied for a pay-TV cable and satellite broadcast licence via a consortium that includes Telkom (66%), Anant Singh’s Videovision Entertainment (15%), Given Mkhari’s MSG Africa Media, WDB Investment Holdings (5%), a staff incentive trust (4%) and a broad based black economic empowerment shareholder (5%) which are investing R7 billion in setting up a subscription TV service aimed at the mass market, as well as several multi-platform technologies such as IPTV and video on-demand.
The company says its planned subscription TV bouquet will bring pay-TV “within the realistic price range of nearly 40% of South African audiences” and is estimated to cost between R100 and R350 per month. The television offerings will include a 24-hour news station, as well as channels devoted to sports, movies, music, education and home shopping.
Currently, South Africans spend about R7,57-billion a year on entertainment and media and is expected to grow at 9% a year to R9,78-billion by 2011.
In a recent article on MyADSL.co.za Chris van Zyl from Telkom Media pointed out that while the IPTV service will be provisioned over the same copper line for existing ADSL Internet customers, it will not be subject to capping associated with Internet related services. A good piece of news with bandwidth constrains being as costly as they are in this country.
All in all I have to say IPTV looks like a really viable and good option for users in South Africa. While many have a bad word about Telkom you have to admit they certainly are trying at times to create a broader offering and the introduction of services like a 20 Mbps line and IPTV are a major step in the right direction.
Justin Hartman
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April 29th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
New website, http://www.tvnetresource.com is committed to assisting visionaries in creating a new Internet Video Television and Entertainment Industry. Companies like Joost and Youtube have been making money of of user generated content, or large corporate sponsors. TV Net Productions, owner of http://www.tvnetresource.com created the site to help people create and profit from original entertaiment television. TV Net Productions also owns http://www.filmsmash.com, the vide share site that is used for the platform for delivery of the video, has a unique design in that it’s channels have been pre-created on a US State Basis, as to appeal to smaller advertisers who would otherwise take their advertising dollars to their local Cable TV stations as opposed to ponying up the big bucks like the huge corporate sponsors pay for the world wide reach that Internet offers.
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