Adrian Pegg | my media

Via Podcasting News

The number of broadband-enabled TVs – those capable of directly or indirectly receiving broadband video content – is expected to exceed 162 million households globally by 2011, according to Broadband Video: Redefining the Television Experience, The Diffusion Group’s latest report on IP media.

“It is fair to say that the democratization of video delivery is officially underway,” noted Colin Dixon, senior analyst and author of the report. “As the Internet finds its way to the primary home TV – and it will – incumbent PayTV operators and established broadcasters will gradually lose control over the types of video consumers can watch. In the next few years, a growing number of consumers will look to the Internet as means of expanding the variety of content to which they have access, much of which will be available on-demand and specifically suited to their tastes.”

Dixon mentions five factors which in combination are creating a ‘tipping point’ for broadband TV including:

• The widespread adoption of broadband Internet service;
• The expanding variety of video content available on the Internet;
• The introduction and push of solutions intended to enable Internet video viewing on the TV (such as Microsoft’s Xbox/IPTV platform and Apple’s pending iTV adapter);
• The entry of top-tier content producers into the Internet marketplace, many of which are now pushing high-value franchise content onto the web; and
• The move from short-form ’snack’ Internet video content to full-length TV programming and movies.

Long form content is what will really make the difference, but take the broadcaster out of the equation and you remove the major source of funding.  If every programme becomes a gamble with your own money we will see a great deal of instability, and a lot more failure than success.