BSkyB moving toward hybrid Internet platform

[korsjs]

CAMBRIDGE (Reuters) - UK satellite TV company BSkyB is adding a range of new features to its pay-TV service, a top executive said, and it may eventually move to a hybrid platform of satellite and broadband delivery.

"New Ethernet connections will allow us to deliver services such as VOD (video on demand) over a broadband pipe as well as over satellite," Chief Operating Officer Richard Freudenstein said at the Royal Television Society convention in Cambridge.

Analysts have noted that BSkyB rents rather than owns satellite capacity, so it could move toward Internet distribution over time. Sky is the largest pay-TV company in Britain, but it is facing fierce competition from Freeview, resurgent cable rivals, and the looming threat of TV over the Internet from the likes of BT Group.

"Over time we'll have a hybrid model, satellite augmented by broadband," a BSkyB spokesman said on Friday.

Freudenstein did not set a date for the new VOD services, but the newest Sky+ boxes have extra memory that is currently not used, suggesting that some of the hardware requirements are already in place.

Sky is also preparing the roll-out of a VOD service that would let subscribers watch movies and sports on their computers.

Freudenstein said that Sky also planned to broadcast live to mobile phones, and to allow Sky+ users to program their set-top boxes from mobile phones.

He declined to say whether the company would eventually give away free Sky+ boxes to subscribers, saying only that it had "no intention, no need" to do so right now.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050916/wr_nm/media_bskyb_dc;_ylt=AgxQgfJOjRa1BS.LlkUatyUjtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

When I first did my review of the XTV Box in the pub section, I called Internet Television the future of Television. I still stick to that statement.

In the future Satellite will be once again just a common carrier, both CableTV and Satellite TV will switch over to IPTV where there is no such issue as not enough bandwidth from the FCC, anything you want to watch you will have access to.

Sure there will be programming companies like Dish who will bundle services to offer you the most popular content in one place, or you will be able to pick and choose the services you want Ala carte.

BskyB is already working on things, and also SBC is also doing here in the US, when they release their Media Portal which is a combination Dish Network receiver with built in broadband suport. SBC is already testing out delivering VOD and a few other select channels via their DSL service. In the future I predict that the Dish Network portion of the box will be disabled (and home viewers wont even be able to tell that everything they are watching is coming to them over the internet)

 

[korsjs]

will companies like dish and direct eventually be phased out? doesn't seem like we will even need dishes for home use.