Skip to main content

BBWF Theme: IPTV is Massively Over-Hyped

TelecomTV interviewed Dr. Arjang Zadeh, Managing Partner of Accenture at the Broadband World Forum (BBWF) in Paris, France. He believes the forecasts of global IPTV subscribers are "over exuberant predictions." The video of the interview is available online.

Dr. Zadeh's candid comments regarding "highly suspect market estimates" is perhaps the latest attempt to manage the financial analyst community's expectations about IPTV investments by broadband service providers. Moreover, he builds the case for a differentiated, but not complicated, IPTV consumer experience that is still a work in progress.

This collective acknowledgement that IPTV has stalled in the U.S. market is noteworthy, since Accenture is known to be a primary business partner and advisor to the AT&T U-verse IPTV launch planning team.

In contrast to Dr. Zadeh's somber assessment, Christine Heckart, General Manager of Marketing at Microsoft TV says that she doesn't agree with Alcatel's senior executive assessment that IPTV is "massively over-hyped."

Martyn Warwick's pointed questions are captured in yet another interview video from the BBWF event, where Ms. Heckart attempts to wince and grin her way through Martyn's comments regarding her "very diplomatic answers."

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal has reported that Verizon is unhappy with the glitches and delays with Microsoft's prior role in developing set-top box features for their FiOS pay-TV service. Taking matters into its own hands, the U.S. telco has replaced Microsoft personnel and software code and has hired developers in India and Texas to solve the problems, sources say.

Popular posts from this blog

The AI Application Integration Challenge

Artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly become the defining force in business technology development, but integrating AI into applications remains a formidable challenge. According to a recent Gartner survey, 77 percent of engineering leaders identify AI integration in apps as a major hurdle for their organizations. As demand for AI-powered solutions accelerates across every industry, understanding the tools, the barriers, and the opportunities is essential for business and technology leaders seeking to evolve. The Gartner survey highlights a key trend: while AI’s potential is widely recognized, the path to useful integration is anything but straightforward. IT leaders cite complexities in embedding AI models into existing software, managing data pipelines, ensuring security, and maintaining compliance as persistent obstacles. These challenges are compounded by a shortage of skilled AI engineers and the rapid evolution of AI technologies, which can outpace organizational readiness and...