The drumbeat of IPTV announcements by key industry players reached a crescendo at the recent Consumer Electronics Show. IPTV - TV delivered over the Internet - is the hot medium for delivering video content: from mainstream to obscure applications. But if the numbing multitude of service providers and usage models is confusing Professionals who follow this rapidly changing industry, what about the poor consumer who is expected to choose and pay for the services? We fear the current enthusiasm of developers will lead to a big push back from consumers so confused they give up.

John DiLoreto
Analyst and Editor
of Insight Media

Included among the dozens of IPTV-related announcements over the past week were new movie/TV download services like Vongo, ClickStar and iWatchNow. Their subscription and pay-per-view models are well understood but have had little acceptance from users who want to watch these movies effortlessly on their TVs, not their PCs.

Other players have stepped in. Google and Yahoo have collaborated separately with Intel to let Viiv PCs connect to TVs. But each service utilizes a different usage model.

Google Video invites everyone, from TV networks to your Uncle Marty, to post video clips for everyone to search and view. The owners can even charge a fee, if they wish. Google’s intent is to become the largest video source for any kind of content.

Yahoo’s Go TV service is a bit more personal. In a few months, users will be able to access their photos and other online information from their TVs. But the service will include Yahoo Video Search and Yahoo TV (the company’s online DVR application), so it’s a bit of a hybrid. Yahoo also partnered with TiVo last month to make this service downloadable to it Tivo’s popular DVR.

In yet another usage model, DirecTV has announced interoperability between the company’s receiver boxes and Microsoft Windows PCs so content can be networked between these devices, as well as to portable media players and the Xbox 360. Others have made similar announcements about PC/TV/mobile interoperability.

AOL and Warner Brothers have also teamed up to deliver on-demand TV programming via the AOL broadband network. The service, called In2TV, will be free to AOL broadband subscribers and will offer a selected group of content providers in a “walled garden” type of service. While AOL plans to roll this out with advertising support, it may migrate to a pay-per-view model later.

It’s not just the dizzying pace of these announcements that is daunting to consumers. Networks, services, platforms and content are all proliferating, and the myriad of usage models will keep consumers from flocking to the services. Ease of use and simple convenience remains a key issue.

What the digital video industry needs are usage standards common across products and services. But this is not the direction the industry is headed. Each player has its own vision of how these services will roll out and what consumers really want. We are witnessing the beginning of a gold rush to IPTV. It will be fascinating to watch, but it will be some time before consumers can wrap their minds around all these possibilities and develop ways of using IPTV services that are just as automatic as turning on the TV. When they do, IPTV will fulfill its promise as a powerful competitor to cable, satellite, and broadcast television.