(23 May 2007 4:25 pm)

MUMBAI: The US market earned revenues of $423 million in 2006 from IPTV and this is expected to reach $12 billion in 2013, according to Frost & Sullivan.

"IPTV deployment is not always easy; in addition, there have been delays associated with set-top boxes and potential customers become disenchanted if announced services are not delivered. There may also be capacity issues with the set-top boxes that do not have enough storage space for on-demand and DVR programming" says Frost and Sullivan senior analyst Lynda Starr.

Frost & Sullivan has come out with a study on `IPTV-Personalising Television: North American IPTV Services Market.'

According to the study, there is a significant demand for niche, older programming and educational programming. Programs from other countries are also attractive, for which consumers will pay.

The service providers are likely to either charge subscription/viewing fees or sell targeted advertising, which will defray network deployment costs. IPTV, thus, offers consumers savings over cable services, the study says.