Vint Cerf, Google Chief Internet Evangelist, Sees Bright Future For IPTV

How do you prefer to watch television? As it comes, either over the airwaves or via a cable-based setup? Perhaps you like to record your favorite shows for viewing after they’re broadcast. How about on-demand, by way of a download process, via good ol’ Internet Protocol?

The last scenario is likely to be the least favored by the average individual. Nonetheless, it’s the model put forth as the soon-to-be “next big thing” by Google’s Vint Cerf. (Beware, the linked page is replete with imposing advertisements. Venture on at your own discretion.) Yep, one of the guys responsible for getting the Net up and running in the first place.

And Mr Cerf’s putting an emphasis on soon.

Google’s Chief Internet Evangelist, speaking to a conference in the UK, claimed that the world would witness in the near future something of an “iPod moment” in the realm of television, saying that, other than a necessary continued reliance on “traditional” broadcasting methods for up-to-the-minute news and live sport, media companies and new distribution channels (iTunes, Joost, YouTube, etc.) would grow more and more attuned to delivering content for use in a myriad of applications, from the home-based to the mobile. Of course, this would, I presume, be done rather simply, in Cerf’s view. Hence the man’s reference of the iPod.

But what about all the talk of bandwidth limitations and the widespread assumption that IPTV is not a viable solution in any mass consumer space? Won’t the Net’s backbone crumble under the weight of all those bits of high-def goodness? Cerf says not to worry, telling the public that the world is “far from exhausting the [Internet’s] capacity.”

I fall straight in line with this kind of thinking. IPTV will see a golden age of its own in the coming years. The signs are clear. Podcasters are putting out better and better quality stuff (not just in terms of photography, but content as well) all the time, and big-name professional media groups and organizations have taken serious notice of the trend and have worked quite feverishly to match the new set of independent creators, even attempting to stay ahead of them; some successfully, some not. Put that competitive market together with consumer-friendly solutions (iPods, set top boxes, etc.), and you’ve got yourself a digital recipe ready for massive growth. And that’s not growth on top of existing, dated services and solutions. That’s growth resulting from a trend away from the old-media business model that’s dominated the television sector for decades.

And the Net’s not going to fall as a result of this trend. The backbone’s a mightier one than many suspect. Think about it. Fiber optic cable has the capacity to deliver what can practically be considered an unlimited number of bits. Residential fiber solutions alone (which I myself enjoy) can ideally offer gigabit-plus data streams, if the providers of those solutions so chose to such speeds and rates.

The networks essential to the existence of the World Wide Web are exponentially larger in terms of pipe sizes and data caps. Unless ISPs stupidly choose to erratically throttle data transmissions so as to upset IPTV users, I’ve no worries about the future of the budding industry. It’s going to be a good one.