NuVisions IPTV will deliver a host of multiplatform offerings, including TV programming, Internet access and telephone service over its gigabit (one billion bits) network, which connects all the properties it serves through a redundant ring in New York City. The company calls it “a virtual fiber optic network in the air.”
NuVisions plans to add more channels and features, like video-on-demand, movies, games and interactive content to the service when fully deployed.
“We are excited to be the first provider of IPTV services in the New York City market, bridging the gap between the television and computer as entertainment, information and communication devices,” NuVisions President Frank Matarazzo said in a statement. “With this IPTV offering, the new age of digital convergence is upon us.”
IPTV, or Internet protocol television, can offer seamless, cost-conscious convergence across different media platforms because it uses technology that’s already in place to deliver its service — the dwellings’ existing phone wiring.
IP technology enables direct communication with the provider’s “control center,” making clunky set-top boxes obsolete and delivering multiple communications services that traditionally operate over different hardware.
Several adult companies have started offering videos via IPTV, including 3 Vision Entertainment, Wicked Pictures, New Sensations, Digital Sin, Zero Tolerance Entertainment and Third Degree Films. All have partnered with Entice.TV to offer adult content via a broadband connection and a standard computer video cable. XTV offers a similar service.
An Infonetics Research study predicts IPTV service revenue will grow to more than $44 billion worldwide by 2009 and the number of IPTV subscribers will grow to 53.7 million during that same time period. Subscribers in North America alone will increase by 12,985 percent between 2004 and 2009, according to the company’s research data.
“Service providers expect huge returns from IPTV, and they are investing heavily in IPTV infrastructure to ensure those returns,” spokesman Jeff Heynen said.