The Dawn of Broadband TV

Will broadband TV or Internet-based TV affect the currently popular satellite TV or even the free-t-air TV? It's a difficult question to answer, but what I can say is that broadband TV is slowly making its way here.

In making the first move, Telekom Malaysia (TM) has launched their Web TV initiative known as Hypp.TV last week in a rather big way with 30 channels covering genres such as news and current affairs, entertainment, sports, lifestyle, movie and drama.
The channels include Channel News Asia, Al-Jazeera English, CCTV4, Bloomberg TV, Barclays Premier League, Fashion TV, RED TV, Bollywood entertainment, Korean and Chinese. The TM's broadband TV also features some first-in-Malaysia content such as Luxe TV, Warner Bros Sorothy Forever and Wedding TV.

Actually, Hypp.TV has been around for more than a year ago, but only offers limited content, but this time around, TM is making sure that the revamped version will be a killer application.
The move by the local telecom giant can be seen as timely in the sense that broadband penetration in Malaysia is increasing rapidly. Now the market knows there is an alternative TV on top of the existing free-to-air TV and Astro.

Opportunitiny-wise, it looks great, what more with the country's broadband penetration has reached 21.1 percent as of last year, surpassing the target of 20 per cent that had been set under the National Broadband Implementation Plan, based on a Bernama report. Now the country had set a target of 50 per cent rate in household broadband penetration in 2010.
It's a bit too ambitious to say that broadband TV will be accepted by all as not everybody will agree to the idea of watching TV on a computer screen or mobile devices. But how about watching it on a normal TV, would people buy the idea? Probably yes.

The availability of high-definition TVs will allow consumers to connect their computers to the TV screen. This will drive up the uptake of Web TV services, what more with these TVs getting more affordable from time to time.

Users will just need to connect their PC or notebook computer to their HDTV via HDMI cable and to have the Internet or WebTV content on their big TV screen.
In terms of picture quality, TM assured that users would not face buffering problem as in watching videos on Youtube. That is good, if not it makes no point.

Currently, TM is only offering the service exclusively to its Streamyx subscribers, targeting 30 to 40 percent of them to subscribe to the service (available at www.hypp.tv). TM now has 1.5 million Streamyx subscribers.
TM Group's executive vice president, consumer, Jeremy Kung, said the Hypp.TV is a value-added service for the Streamyx subscribers, but hinted that TM will also made it available to people living outside Malaysia in the near future. The company is using peer-to-peer technology to ensure uninterruptible service.

What will attract users to Web TV, I think, is the flexibility it offers. For example, TM is offering both broadcast and on-demand (pulled content).
The traditional business model of "take-what-we-offer-you" approach now is being undermined by consumer demand for an à la carte, "give-me-what-I-want-when-I-want-it" model. This is one of the best advantages of Web TV - watch what I want and when I want it.

And at just RM9.90 per month, I think there will be positive response from the public.
It probably takes at least five to 10 more years before broadband TV can really become a household item, but it may take even shorter than that if the service providers (not just TM alone) can live up to their promises and service quality.