TV - but not as we know it

22 February 2007

When you talk to people about IPTV, the first thing they invariably ask is: what will it look like on my 32in widescreen? But isn't that like asking whether your DVD player takes video cassettes? Why should a new paradigm be played out by the old rules?

Surely the point about IPTV - which after all is only a set of standards for the communication of TV pictures - is its ubiquity. Yes it will be on your TV through neat little gizmos like the SlingCatcher, which takes pictures off your PC and wirelessly 'slings' them over to your TV. But this is hardly the killer app. It will also be on your phone, laptop, PC... and who knows what else - your cooker, your fridge? Nor will there be a single platform for this stuff. Major players will include the BBC, whose iPlayer has just been cleared for take-off by the BBC Trust; Sky; Tiscali TV, reborn from the much-loved Homechoice; Apple iTunes; and of course Microsoft in not one but three incarnations - xBox, MoviePlayer and Microsoft TV.

And on top of that, there will also be opportunities for niche players like Joost, set up by the Swedish entrepreneurs behind Skype. Formerly known by its 'codename' The Venice Project (a name we're assured came from the conference suite in which it was founded, rather than any reference to the sinking city), its platform makes videos and other content available in 'programmes' and 'channels', with adverts served up alongside.

This all creates opportunities for a host of start-ups interested in the next generation of TV. Linear TV channels may have been dominated by a few key suppliers, but the next generation will be open to any number of mix-and-match players both from a production and technology standpoint.

One of the first three partners announced by Joost is a small London/LA-based company called September Films, which has revealed that its 'channel' will initially be based around its popular Bridezilla format. The term, popularised by a YouTube video where a bride goes bonkers over her wedding day haircut and shears all her locks off, is the title of a popular series made by September that follows brides obsessed with making their special day perfect in every way. While there's admittedly a certain fascination in watching this kind of madness, you have to admit the channel is ultimately a somewhat niche interest.

By David Longworth