Internet TV has become a major focus for European phone companies, and several have plans to announce big expansions in the field at the Internationale Funkausstellung, Europe’s big consumer electronics show, which begins in Berlin on Friday. Users pay between around $40-80 a month to receive digital broadcasts over the networks run by the phone companies (as opposed to cable or satellite). These can then be watched on televisions or computers. Typically, they form part of a package, including flat-rate Internet access and domestic fixed-line voice calls. Users will generally receive 50 broadcast channels as well as 60 or more premium channels, some not available through other companies. “IPTV’s decisive advantage is its ability to link programming with interactive services,” said Timotheus Höttges, a Deutsche Telekom board member with responsibility for IPTV. “Consumer viewing habits as a result are going to fundamentally change.”
Europe is currently the biggest market for IPTV. Deutsche Telekom is spending about $4 billion on it, but there’s a long way to go. According to recent figures, there are 2.3 million paid IPTV subscribers in Europe, less than 5% of households, although that figure is expected to grow to 10% in the next three years.
France is Europe’s leader in adopting IPTV, in large part because it lacked major cable and satellite broadcasters. The technology was introduced in Europe in 2001, but didn’t begin appearing more widely until 2004.
However, it’s not without problems. Skeptics wonder whether people will really migrate to IPTV without a compelling reason, and in Germany the government, which owns 31% of Deutsche Telekom, is being sued by the European Commission for keeping competitors off the new Deutsche Telekom broadband network.
