Foxtel trials IPTV service
Pay-TV giant, Foxtel, will begin a trial of downloadable, on-demand television services over the Internet this month.
The Foxtel-by-broadband trial, offered to 50 Foxtel staff and 150 existing subscribers, will see a select range of movie and television programming made available on-demand via Internet download.
"It might be episodes of a popular drama, it might be the whole series - it's up to the [individual] channel to decide," a Foxtel spokesperson said.
The content will be offered free-of-charge provided the viewer already subscribes to that channel on their standard Foxtel service. A minimum broadband connection speed is required of 550Mbps. The trial was being conducted, the company said, to test technical and commercial aspects of the broadband download service.
Foxtel-by-broadband would bridge the gap between the standard Pay-TV services available to subscribers now and the on-demand services the company would offer via its next-generation iQ box released in February, the spokesperson said.
The new 'iQ' box features a partitioned drive capable of holding up to 12 hours of content which Foxtel will push out for on-demand consumption.
The company's interest in on-demand programming follows similar moves by its joint-venture shareholder, Telstra, as well as ASX-listed start-up, Reeltime.
In February, Telstra launched on-demand video services - offering a limited range of movies and television shows via Internet download, available for viewing for a specified amount of hours. Last month, Reeltime upped the ante, offering a wider variety of television and movie content wrapped in Digital Rights Management (DRM) protection that allows the content to be ripped to a DVD or external device.
Both services have been criticised for exhaustingly long download times.
The DRM scheme chosen for Foxtel's IPTV trial has its own shortcomings - the content can only be viewed on the device it is downloaded to (for example, the PC).
It couldn't be streamed to other screens around the home, the spokesperson said.
Understanding Email Marketing: A Guide for SMBs
Email marketing is often viewed as a marketers silver bullet. If used effectively, email campaigns will provide strong results for a limited spend each and every time. Download this white paper to discover how email marketing can work for you and your business.
