Microsoft and SBC Team Up on IPTV

rdurell writes "Microsoft is once again trying to get into the television market. This time they are teaming up with SBC Communications in a $400M deal to deliver television via IPTV through SBC's network. According to the article, Microsoft has spent $20B in its attempts to break into the market."

Comments

... Since 1993?

[FiReaNGeL]

They invested 20 billions since 1993? I was on a 28.8k at this time (like 95% of internet users I suppose)... how could they think of delivering video feeds? Even with my current cable connection, video need to "buffer" for 20-30 seconds (and we're not even talking of Real(Choppy)Video). And with download quotas most ISP are enforcing, I can't see my net connection replace my TV... the infrastructure just isn't there (yet). According to the article :

"A major hurdle for SBC, however, is how to increase the speed of its network to deliver the television and Internet services it promises. SBC will have to increase its current connection speeds by seven-fold, which may make the company's goal of providing television programming within a year difficult to achieve. The projections are going to look completely ridiculous by the time we get to the end of 2005, said Albert Lin, an industry analyst at American Technology Research, an equity investment firm."

I wonder is the projections will look completely ridiculous because they'll reach their goal... or not. With Verizon digging holes everywhere, I can't see this happening this soon :)

Not as silly as it sounds

[Lancaibheal]

My first instinct is to scoff and laugh at this, but then again, I scoffed and laughed when I heard that Microsoft would be developing a gaming console.

Lets face it, Microsoft have a lot of cash lying about, and they're not stupid - if they want it badly enough, they'll get in on the market. Which isn't entirely a bad thing, competition is a good thing, as long as they behave.

Plus, with another TV provider, maybe there'll finally be something decent on to watch.