BT says it will use Microsoft’s Internet Protocol
Television (IPTV) software platform to deliver TV over broadband in
the UK from next year.
BT plans to trial TV over broadband using IPTV in early 2006,
and expects to deliver a commercial service from the summer of
2006.
Gavin Patterson, group managing director of BT Retail, said, “BT
and Microsoft share a common vision for converged entertainment in
the home. TV over broadband services will play an important role in
BT’s triple-play offering for consumers.”
Triple play sees operators able to offer voice, data and video
to customers using a converged infrastructure.
To do this, operators need to update their exchanges to build
the necessary quality of service levels into their infrastructure.
BT and other UK providers have so far failed to do this, and are
behind operators in Italy, Austria and Scandinavia who already
offer triple-play services.
Patterson said, “Our approach to broadband-delivered video on
demand complements existing TV propositions already in the UK
market, and the combination of Microsoft’s best-in-class technology
with BT’s 21st century network will result in an incredibly
exciting set of next-generation entertainment and communication
services.”
BT plans to make money out of pay-per-view films, games and
other services. It originally planned to do so five years ago when
it first launched broadband services, believing its existing
infrastructure was up to the job, but subsequently realised it
wasn’t.