Four in five European broadcasters are planning to offer high definition content online in the next year, according to a survey carried out by Akamai at IBC 2008.
One-fifth of those surveyed are already offering some form of online HD service. Three in five said they planned to deliver this content at bitrates of at least 4Mbps, while one in five said they were aiming for over 8Mbps.
Half of those questioned said that they were looking to offer feature-length content, including films and TV episodes.
Although broadcasters still see the standalone PC as the primary delivery method for this content, they are looking towards making the transition to the living room easier.
38% said they were targeting the TV, 34% the set-top box, nearly 10% connected DVD players, and around 5% games consoles.
The main challenge will be delivery of such content over existing connections. As consumers will already be discovering with BT Vision's HD download service, it currently takes a long time to access content over a modest broadband connection.
Akamai believes it has part of the solution, in terms of relieving some network strain in the delivery of high quality video, but of course the system is only as fast as its slowest bottleneck.
Leave a comment