Internet TVUsing p2p video distribution to create a near zero-cost broadcast network

Problem

• Cost of providing high-quality video on Internet

$

users

Solution

$

users

• Peer-to-peer technology is massively scalable– User-friendly and web-based video distribution platform

Distributionnetwork

Metadata

Peert web service

End-consumers

BrowserAjax

Peert peer service

BitTorrent

Partners

SOAP

HTMLContent

Competitive arena

• Competitors

– No European players

• Substitute products: streaming video

• Entrants– Low barriers for entry– Raise switching costs, brand identification, subsidies,

fast growing industry

• Suppliers: technology partners• Buyers: partners that create the network

– Entertainment / Infotainment– Marketing & Corporate communication– E-Learning

Example

Product roadmap

• Metadata– TV-Anytime (CMS)– Web 2.0: tags, reviews, ratings, notes, etc.

• Peert web service– Reporting– Content caching

• Peert peer service– Connectivity & decentralization

Cost issues of peer-to-peer

• Pushes costs to end-consumer– Flat-fee broadband subscription

• Thus, pushes costs to ISPs

• But ISPs will not kill peer-to-peer– Peer-to-peer drives demand for broadband access– ISPs are equipped to handle this traffic

• Peering agreements• Caching strategies

What are people doing with broadband?

Peer-to-PeerDownloading

61.44% of current peer-to-peer traffic is video, 11.34% is audio, 27.22% belongs to other category.*

*CacheLogic

Problems traditional peer-to-peer services

• Proven technology, but usability issues:

– Router / firewall configuration

– Codec installation

– Malformed content

– Limited search, only on title

– No integration with content owners’ websites

Undisputed peer-to-peer

• Peer-to-peer is associated with sharing copyrighted material, but

– It is just an other way of getting contentfrom A to B

– Super-distribution is supported byall DRM standards

File sharing explained

origin seed

Technical challenges

• Connectivity– Firewalls, NATs, and proxies break Internet’s end-to-end

principle

• Decentralization– Content distribution (tracker)– Serving metadata

Will p2p streaming kill p2p file sharing?

• NO,

– Only relevant for live streams• Sports• Web cams• …

Internet TV beats Telco’s IPTV offerings

• Proprietary network– Limited audience

• Standard television

• Relative high-cost– Servers and bandwidth– Hard-/software

• Open Internet– Large audience

• Innovative concepts

• Near zero-cost– Edge distribution– Software

Why the Netherlands? Why Europe?

Home network

Portable platform

DVD player

TV

Streamium

PC

or

Broadband Internet

USB

DVD

UPnP

Trends

• Ratio of produced video content to available content is the highest of any content industry

• Production costs are going down• Broadband penetration is growing• Users want to record and download TV content on

their PC to watch on their TV• P2P decreases bandwidth cost to zero• Time-shifted television (e.g., PVR) will become

accepted

TV shows ranked by popularity

Ave

rag

e n

um

be

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f pe

op

le w

atc

hin

g

The BodyBlockbustersHit movies / showsNational television

The Long TailTV not broadcasted in your area

Foreign TVOld TV shows

Shows from archivesMissed shows

None broadcasted videoIndependent films…

Small audience / Cost sensitive TVVideo blogsReality shows

Disruptive Characteristics of P2P

• Path to own mainstream market– Mainstream: youngsters

• Non-Sustaining development– Open source and scalable technology

• Over capacity in current market– Too many TV channels & DVD prices tumbling

• Seen as inferior technology– File share in not VOD

• Customers needs have to be falsely perceived– People want broadcast? Want IPTV-STB or PVR