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associated with a program or series is possible through interactive on-screen offers. Customers may choose to purchase the soundtrack from the night’s episode or a copy of the program they just watched. Enhanced voting and interaction on reality/contest shows also becomes possible. Imagine voting for the contestants on tonight’s episode simply by pressing a pin code and a number on your remote.
And when the convergence of phone, Internet and IPTV come together, the complications will be astronomical. With traditional TV, all the content constantly flows downstream to each customer, with the exception of the occasional pay per view boxing match or movie on demand purchase. The customer can choose from as many choices as their individual cable or satellite companies make available. An IP network works the opposite way: the content remains in the network, but the subscriber must select and download everything they want to watch a la carte – basically creating an ongoing pay per view experience. Subscribers can access a “record now – watch later” feature for their favorite shows and they can also go back and download a missed show or view the remaining episodes of a show, movie or other event. Telcos must be able to track and bill for all of these individual content purchases, from major network shows, movies and videos, sporting events, music and games – all at a range of prices.
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traditional telephone companies have never ventured, including gaming providers, production houses and record labels. New IPTV providers must find a way to adapt their existing rigid procedures to a more fluid and dynamic business model without abandoning their current BSS/OSS system.
It will be necessary to process usage information from a variety of information sources. IPTV systems will need to manage the collection and mediation from the game servers, video on demand servers, multicast servers, and other content sources that will be used by key downstream systems such as retail billing, wholesale settlement, advertising settlement, and management reporting.
Luckily, there is hope. OSS/BSS providers are working to adjust their offerings to support IPTV challenges brought on by on-demand television, new vendor/merchant relationships through interactive features and new content partnerships. One solution is to turn to a clearinghouse, which can assist with the settlement and billing of these services by enabling the flow of information between IPTV suppliers and partners, as well as integrate with existing BSS/OSS systems.Because of their ability to process data and financial transactions from every type of communications network and retail or content service provider, clearinghouses can provide a hosted solution that serves as the central hub for collection and processing of various pieces
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Now throw retail merchandisers and advertising into the mix and let your imagination run wild. In the network, but the subscriber must select and download everything they want to watch a la carte – basically creating an ongoing pay per view experience. Subscribers can access a “record now – watch later” feature for their favorite shows and they can also go back and download a missed show or view the remaining episodes of a show, movie or other event. Telcos must be able to track and bill for all of these individual content purchases, from major network shows, movies and videos, sporting events, music and games – all at a range of prices. Now throw retail merchandisers and advertising into the mix and let your imagination run wild. This all sounds great. But how do the telcos make it work? Because of the content variety and interactive, on-demand nature of IPTV, settlement must occur outside the previously simple confines of the telecom industry and underlying billing systems have to manage entirely new usage paradigms. New partners are already emerging from areas where
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of usage activity, thereby significantly easing IPTV implementation costs. Since the accurate and timely delivery of billing information is critical for all involved parties -- end user customers, suppliers and partners -- a clearinghouse can simplify billing and settlement between them, as well as provide the needed interfaces for these new services between existing systems. Clearinghouses can also assist with the management of new partnership agreements, acting as an aggregator for movie and video game content. Clearinghouses can easily track pricing plans and settle between all involved parties. In doing so, the service provider can focus on delivering quality services to their subscribers.
Clearinghouses have the tools and solutions IPTV providers need to augment basic IPTV services by enabling advanced e-commerce solutions that will enhance subscriber value and truly differentiate Telco IPTV services from basic cable and traditional broadcast models.
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