The evolution of IPTV and why legacy systems just won’t do

Competition is also growing for many providers due to the rise of Netflix and other OTT TV services, so it’s vital that IPTV vendors are at the top of their game. Given that IPTV has a potential market value of up to $79 billion by 2020, and expected average growth of almost 20 percent every year till then – according to research by Transparency Market – what should operators be doing to maximise their share of the pie?

Arguably, and as the growth figures indicate, the IP delivery of television is here to stay, with hybrid broadcast models being a long term transitional stage. Yet IPTV still needs to evolve. It’s hard to imagine that monolithic platforms, managed network delivery and single device output will continue to be relevant in the future, so change will have to happen. This evolution is likely to embrace new software architectures and development models, with systems becoming more nimble allowing changes to be implemented quicker with greater service flexibility.

This shift isn’t just limited to more flexible platforms, IPTV systems are likely to evolve in other ways too. As we see newer architectural styles – for instance micro-services – platform development activities will be able to occur in small concurrent streams of software development, with little inter-dependencies at a system level. As modern IPTV systems already use the same architectural patterns as large scale web platforms, combining this with different development and support methodologies, such as DevOps, will ensure systems are quicker to meet the changing needs of today’s consumers. They are also functionally different because they need to support devices other than the set top box and network access off the operator network. Looked at as a whole, more modern approaches allow much faster development cycles and reduce ‘time to value’. This is likely to be of major interest to IPTV vendors such as pay TV operators who could be facing tighter margins due to increased content creation / distribution rights costs.

From a pay TV perspective there is always a challenge in matching the agility of OTT players, so it’s vital that pay TV operators – as well as telcos wishing to offer more services – embrace the best of what OTT platforms have pioneered. This will include the adoption of adaptive bitrate streaming over unmanaged networks, deploying cloud based software within rapid development environments and supporting high quality live channel streaming and fast channel changing. It is high quality live channel streaming and fast channel changing where IPTV vendors have considerable experience that OTT providers lack and is an area that they should therefore be trying to maximise.

IPTV vendors should however not be relying just on areas they already have experience in, larger operators are already embracing more advanced IPTV platforms that have multi-screen and OTT environments. As we move into unmanaged networks and support more categories of devices, we are likely to see increased dependence on IP delivery of content rather than traditional broadcast delivery – especially as we’ll see people’s consumption habits change in favour of mobile devices and pre-recorded content.

It is undeniable that IPTV vendors are going to have to adapt as the popularity of the services they offer grows. Those still using legacy systems must look towards updating them so they can better compete with OTT players – whilst still playing on their expertise. The importance of flexibility will help companies to make the most of this growing and valuable market, undeniably consumers are paying for a premium product and as such expect premium service, which legacy systems may struggle to deliver – especially with the myriad of devices they now need to support. It’s no longer acceptable to offer either a flexible service or high quality, both must be delivered seamlessly together as that is what consumers expect and know they can receive.

Steve Plunkett, Chief Technology Officer.