The battle for broadband

lurking behind the fun diversions of so-called web TV is an altogether
more serious strategy, piloted by broadcasters, telcos, ISPs and content
owners, to turn the broadband connection into the next major content
delivery channel. And, where content goes, commercial opportunities open
up

In February, Ofcom announced that there were 10 million subscribers in
the UK, adding that new households were entering the high-speed internet
world at a rate of 80,000 a week.

But where broadband has been a premium product, competition and the
speed of its growth is rapidly reducing it to the status of a utility -
leaving the major players looking for new ways to make it earn its
keep.

"What you have is a lot of broadband companies looking at ways of
generating more revenue from their customers, because there is very
little money to be made from just offering broadband," says Chris
Williams, telecoms spokesman for comparison service uSwitch.com.

Aggressive price competition from suppliers like Carphone Warehouse has
left those who previously thrived on broadband searching for new revenue
streams. Potential service offers range from data services such as VoIP
and video conferencing to full-blown VOD and streamed television
broadcasts.

The first major launch from a telco will be BT Vision's Freeview Plus
service this autumn; though numerous content deals have been unveiled,
details of the finished service are yet to be publicly announced. A
complicating factor is that no two players are approaching the market
from the same position. As Alex Cameron, managing director of broadband
content aggregator Digital TX, puts it: "When you have convergence, it
is almost impossible to label anything."

So who looks set to win the battle for consumers' viewing? Sky is the
only proven broadcaster among a gaggle of ISPs and telcos sizing up the
market as potential distributors, but it has limited experience of
broadband delivery.

Through its alliance with Freeview, BT appears to have the most rounded
proposition, but its convincing reincarnation as a broadcaster and
content aggregator cannot be taken for granted.

NTL, Tiscali and Orange's Wanadoo, which is rebranding, of course all
have their strengths in terms of branding and positioning, but no one is
quite sure how any of the UK's ISPs plan to make the leap. Some even
deny having any firm plans to do so, but as the margins involved in
broadband get narrower and narrower, there will be a lot of large
companies with important decisions to make.

THE CONTENT PROVIDERS

The BBC's plan to begin transferring its vast archive online is a
dramatic show of faith in the new broadband TV platform, but ITV and
Channel 4 are also toying with free and paid-for web TV models.

Various trials orchestrated not just by the BBC, but also by ITV Local,
are already giving a few select consumers access to live TV streams.

Most digital broadcasters have found some experimental outlet for their
content on the web. In March, MTV launched its Overdrive channel,
allowing VOD access to music videos, live performances, trailers and
full-length shows and C4 is streaming episodes of Lost, initially for
free and subsequently for 99p a go.

Flextech's channels have aired on NTL/Telewest's Blueyonder TV service,
while ITN is part of the MSN Video Player line-up. Throw online-only
channels into the mix and highly interactive video sites such as YouTube
and Google Video, and there is no shortage of content for the avid
broadband user.

THE JARGON-BUSTER

Broadband TV: A catch-all term to describe video content fed down the
broadband line, either as a continuous stream or as a VOD (see right)
offering, to either a TV or a PC

Internet Protocol Television (IPTV): Standard TV and VOD content
delivered exclusively to a television via a high-speed broadband
line

Triple-play: A package of TV, broadband and telephony services, supplied
by a single provider and charged via a single bill. Quadruple play sees
the addition of mobile services

VOD VIDEO ON DEMAND

Voice over IP (VoIP)

A telephone service that transmits calls over the internet

Web TV

Video content delivered via the inter-net exclusively to a home
computer.