Telkom, MultiChoice test video-on-demand

By Dave Glazier for Telkom
Johannesburg, 15 Feb 2006

A partnership between Telkom and MultiChoice to stream selected TV content over the Web has been established, says Alphonzo Samuels, Telkom`s broadband executive officer.

"We are investigating different compression techniques," he says, adding that a closed-group video-on-demand (VOD) trial is being conducted.

Samuels declines, at this stage, to reveal details on programming, the duration of the trial, or any dates on when the service may be rolled out.

Telkom said recently it may consider buying a broadcast licence, in view of plans to bring Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) to SA. But since MultiChoice is a licensed content-providing partner for the VOD project, Telkom would not require the broadcast licence.

Samuels says the VOD trials are distinct from Telkom`s IPTV plans, and believes the service would be "complementary" to IPTV in the future.

MultiChoice would not comment on the partnership, citing contractual obligations.

VOD systems are either 'streaming`, in which viewing can start as the video streams over the Internet, or 'download`, in which the programme is brought in its entirety to a set-top box before viewing starts.

Users are able to pause, fast forward, rewind and jump between frames with all 'download` VOD systems and some 'streaming` VOD systems.

Rapidly evolving

"Video-on-demand in SA is just around the corner; it is evolving extremely rapidly in the developed economies," says Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx, adding: "If we don`t move in this direction we`ll fall behind."

He says that at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this year "an astonishing convergence of strategy in the direction of video-on-demand was evident". Google is one of the major players entering the international VOD market.

In a 2005 forecast for VOD, international research firm Gartner says: "Consumers are adopting VOD faster than originally forecast, yet formidable barriers remain, including competition from direct satellite broadcasters and sellers of DVDs."