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What good are 500 channels if only a handful of shows are worth watching?
There is an antidote to this surfeit of "worthless" channels. It lies in providing 'content coach potatoes' – not just more channels to surf – but control over what to watch and when, according to Aaron Keogh, director of business development for MatrixStream Technologies.
The San Mateo, Calif-based firm is selling a wide range of products for Internet Protocol (IP) Television that it says enables broadband service providers offer control to their viewers at a cheaper price.
Up until two years ago, the Internet was not considered a reliable medium due to such issues as lack of high speed transport, IP traffic congestion and packet drops, Keogh said.
Traditional IPTV streaming, he said, only supported legacy video codecs and didn't work over "best effort" IP networks. The providers required Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees that meant spending millions of dollars to upgrade their broadband networks.
MatrixStream, Keogh said, is offering an alternative that will allow broadcasters to send out high definition TV (HDTV)-quality images even over networks with limited bandwidth.
"We're the Vonage of IPTV. Service providers can plug our system to any broadband network and play the highest definition images at the lowest price," said Keogh.
He said for less than US$250,000 a MatrixStream system capable of supporting 10,000 viewers with concurrent service could be set up without upgrading network infrastructure.
The system can scale up or down so Keogh says "potentially anyone with a broadband connection can be a broadcaster, it all depends on your level of commitment to your viewers."
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