Intel, the US chip manufacturer has just released its latest forecast on the TV market and it can be summed up as “TV everywhere”. Intel forecasts that by 201,5 more than 12 billion devices will be capable of connecting to 500 billion hours of TV and video content.
Justin Rattner, Intel’s chief technology officer said “TV will remain at the centre of our lives and you will be able to watch what you want where you want.” “We are talking about more than one TV-capable device for every man and woman on the planet.
This proliferation of TV content has big implications for the online world. Malachy Moynihan, Cisco’s vice-president of video product strategy, made another profound prediction. “We are seeing an amazing move of video to IP (internet) networks,” he said. “By 2013 90% of all IP traffic will be video; 60% of all video will be consumed by consumers over IP networks.”
This explosion of bandwith rich internet use will have profound implications for broadband providers, who will need to provide the huge download usage capacity and broadband speeds needed for a 90% televisual experience online.
DSL broadband providers are less well placed to do this than fibre-optic broadband providers – and as the majority of broadband customers in the UK rely on DSL broadband providers such as BT, TalkTalk and Sky for their broadband connections, the issue has formed a central element of the Digital Britain Report’s deliberations. Following the report, the Government is proposing a £6 per year home phone tax to pay for improvements in the broadband infrastructure and to extend the fibre optic broadband footprint in the UK.
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