According to the german Bundesverband Informationswirtschaft Telekommunikation und neue Medien (BITKOM) and the Goldmedia consulting firm, TV over the internet (IPTV) is soon going to make a breakthrough. According to BITKOM experts, by the year 2012 about 2.5 million households could be using IPTV in Germany. Thus, besides cable, satellite and aerial yet another way of TV broadcasting would come into being.
The above is the finding of the “IPTV 2012? study which was conducted by Goldmedia and supported by BITKOM. IPTV has the potential to become a success story. By the end of this year about 100.000 German households will presumably have an IPTV connection. By the year 2012, according to the study in question, there might be 25 times as much households”, said Dr. Rudolf Gröger, member of the BITKOM board on the occasion of the presentation of the study yesterday.
Turnover generated by IPTV is on the rise too. According to the study, it might amount to more than 420 million Euros by the year 2012. Currently turnover stands at just three percent of the figure forecast for the year 2012. “The forecast takes into account turnover generated by basic fees for TV packages as well as pay-TV fees and turnover generated by video-on-demand and other payable additional services”, says Prof. Dr. Klaus Goldhammer, who is managing director with Goldmedia. “What the figure forecast does not include is turnover generated through advertising as well as indirect revenues which are generated through the marketing of triple-play-packages for telephony and broadband internet.” Triple-play stands for offers which in addition to IPTV also include phone and internet connections.
Compared to other EU countries Germany is currently lagging behind in terms of TV over the internet. In France, for example, there are already about two million IPTV users at the moment. The situation in Italy and Spain is similar to that in France. One reason for the relatively slow introduction of IPTV in Germany is its being limited to conurbations so far. Gröger calls upon policy makers not to suffocate this new market with overregulation: the rules of traditional broadcasting could not generally be applied to internet services. This would without any necessity hamper the development of a highly innovative new economic sector.