Internet television

In the past, television was only distributed via cable, satellite, or terrestrial systems. Today - with the increase in Internet connection speeds, advances in technology, the increase of total number of people online, and the decrease in connection costs - it has become increasingly common to find traditional television content accessible freely and legally over the Internet. In addition to this, new Internet-only television content has appeared which is not distributed via cable, satellite, or terrestrial systems. Very few cable and satellite television stations stream the same content over the Internet, thus protecting the cable systems right of first use for the content.
Internet TV can come in many forms. For instance, it can
* be watched on a regular TV (via a Set-top box), or on a computer, or on a portable device (such as a mobile phone)
* show a channel 'live' (like regular TV), or allow the viewer to select a show to watch on demand ("Video-on-Demand")
* involve any budget - from home camcorder productions to expensive professional productions
* be protected from copying, or easily duplicated as a perfect copy
* be free or paid for - and may be supported by advertisements
* be an interactive or passive medium
The technology of Internet television is no longer as limited by the previous barriers of technology as it once was. It used to be that one of the barriers to wider adoption of Internet television was streaming technology and bandwidth limitations. The bandwidth issue primarily meant that streams were using low bandwidth and that resulted in poor quality. Increasing the bandwidth for the stream being broadcast resulted in a high cost to the providers. Many sites that stream Internet broadcasts have moved to using Flash for videos since it employs vector graphic technology as opposed to turning every bit on and off. Many sites utilize the built-in media player to display the streamed video. Directory sites, like http://www.fantasy-tv.com , direct viewers to available streaming channels by use of a menu system.
The BBC's Dirac project seeks to address the technological barriers by creating a scalable, high-quality, free codec for streaming video content over the net. Nonetheless, the BBC today simply provides a small window using flash as the vehicle for streaming its videos,
As Internet television becomes more pervasive, efforts are being made by companies to develop the transmission of existing pay-TV channels to regular TV sets over the net, while retaining control over how the media is used. Such control is required in order to protect existing subscription and pay-per-view business models. Additionally, there are the copyright issues associated with the distribution of media, like video. The challenges lie in seeking to maintain the protections of a copyright and the revenues associated with it while moving to another delivery model for video content.

Implementation

Internet Television services have at least two different models:

Fee based

This type of service is generally funded and supported by large telecom providers and follows the previous cable, satellite or terrestrial systems, based on a subscription fee, adding new features like high-definition TV, video on demand and digital video recording.
The usage of internet protocols to provide two-way communication will also open the way for interactivity with the TV program content, for example making it possible to choose between multiple camera angles, vote on an interactive TV show, or order a product sample.
Europe and Asia have been the leaders in implementing these Internet Television services for paying customers, which are expected to become mainstream in just a few years replacing traditional cable subscriptions. In the US the providers have not shown so much interest about this technology yet. Internet Television is a more interesting alternative to cable TV also in countries where there is a poor cable infrastructure, like India and China.
The software platform chosen by network operators to provide the most recent Internet television services has been Microsoft TV IPTV Edition, which works together with a set-top box.
These services are limited to the offer supplied by the provider meaning that you can only get on your TV set the channels and services you are paying for.

Free

Free Internet Television is available from the Web, and is accessible without the need for either a set-top-box, a specific carrier or an operator.
The greatest core theme of the free Internet Television model is that it is based on the same publishing model that exists on the Web: it allows access to an open platform, that anyone can access, use and build for, together with the development of open source software, open standards and formats.
Those that create valued and interesting video products have now the opportunity to distribute it directly to a large audience - something impossible with the previous television distributing models (closed software, closed hardware, closed network). The free model has been used around the globe by local and independent television channels aiming for niche target audiences, or to build a collaborative environment for media production, a platform for citizens' media.

Barriers to Internet TV

Some perspectives indicate there are several technological barriers to wider adoption of internet television, the reality is that it is easy to hook up your television to your computer. While some media player streams are less visually clear than others, some of the television coming across from stations rival the broadcasts from the cable box. All it takes is a wireless mouse and the right connections to the TV. Add a stereo or better sound system and the results are quite credible for television viewing. Sites like www.fantasy-tv.com outline the connection from the computer to the television in an easy to understand and visual format.
Some of the technological arguments to broad internet television acceptance are:

1. Lack of set top boxes - these need the latest compression technologies (MPEG-4's H.264/AVC codec; and VC-1). Decoding chips are still new and expensive.
2. Incompatible standards (different software and/or hardware are required to watch different providers)
3. Low bandwidth to the home - a standard definition digital signal requires a 2 Mbit/s connection. High definition requires 8 Mbit/s.
4. Restricted bandwidth in the internet backbone (this will be a problem if many people decide to adopt internet TV via unicast.)
5. Streaming technology - which can be of poor quality and high cost to the providers. Multicast and P2PTV are some of the suggested solutions.
6. Old media meeting new media - licensing regulations, existing deals, and uncertainty over payment, security, and advertising has led to only slow steps being taken by the companies which own the TV content.

Either VC-1 or MPEG-4's H.264/AVC codecs are being used for downloadable video (as also used in HD-DVD and Blu-Ray DVDs). For streaming video content, the BBC's Dirac project seeks to address quality and incompatibility by creating a scalable, high-quality, free codec.

Terminology

Internet television is a fledgling industry and some of the general terms are buzzwords. An Internet television show is transmitted over the Internet using an "Internet Protocol" (IP), and "Internet TV" is sometimes called "IPTV". However, IPTV is more general than Internet TV.
Internet television is often defined as content being transmitted over an internet (either on the public Internet or on other networks such as closed corporate or private broadband networks).
On the other hand, there is also disagreement about using "IPTV" as a short-form for "Internet television", since an alternative definition and trademark already exists for the initialization.[citation needed] And in that case, IPTV is just a part of Internet television.

Other names for Internet television

* IPTV - Internet Protocol Television
* Television on the desktop (TOD)
* TV over IP - Television over Internet Protocol
* Vlog For video web logging.
* Vodcast For video on demand.