Internet television (IPTV)

ABC lets you view their television programs on their website for free.
Source: The Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Internet Protocol television (IPTV), also known as internet TV or broadband television, is used to describe any system used to deliver television-style video content to people over the internet.

This means that the term IPTV covers a very broad range of different services.

It includes public short video sites such as YouTube , where people can freely submit their own videos for public viewing, online television broadcasting services such as In2TV , where people can view television programs online for free, and movie download services such as Bigpond Movies , where movies can be purchased, downloaded and viewed on a computer.

Benefits of IPTV

The benefits of IPTV systems include video-on-demand content, DVD-style controls and interactivity.

• Video-on-demand
  While it remains possible to watch fixed television channels using IPTV, viewers are able to pick and choose the movies and programs they want to watch at the time they want to watch them. Termed video-on-demand, this gives viewers control over their viewing experience.
• DVD-style controls
  IPTV services also allow viewers to treat movies and television programs like DVDs. They can fast forward or rewind, skip ahead or start the program again.
• Interactive TV
  Finally, IPTV holds the promise of allowing viewers to interact with the programs they are viewing, and with other people watching. It could become possible for viewers to select different camera angles when viewing action, to chat or to play games with others while watching the same program or even ‘click’ on areas in a movie to get background information or buy things.

Viewing IPTV

In the past, IPTV has mainly been for people who are happy to watch videos on their computers. While many older people find it strange to use a computer as a television, YouTube streams more than 30 million movies a day and other video sites such as Yahoo’s World Cup football site attracts more than 600,000 viewers a week.

However, a number of IPTV services are now beginning to provide ways for people to watch IPTV on their televisions. This is commonly done by connecting a television to a set-top box or media centre computer which is in turn connected wirelessly or via a cable to a broadband connection.