The variety of broadband media services that consumers will receive is only limited by the creativity of network, service, and content providers. While research is being conducted regularly to determine demand for specific services, one thing is clear—for broadband media services to have successful deployment, the services will have to add value to individual lives. User interface (UI) is an important component of this, and the interface and controls have to make sense for users. Ideally, users would control and access content with familiar remote-control devices and create and select content via customized on-screen menus according to their preferences. An example would be a single on-screen menu (viewable on the users TV, PC, etc) that provides access to the home DVD collection, music library, video game library, Internet and e-mail, e-greetings library, family photos, broadcast TV, pay-per-view options, and more. In the office, a single interface could provide access to employee-training videos, industry discussion forums, Internet and e-mail, and other company news and information. Since ease of use is a crucial part of the overall solution, companies are actively researching consumer preferences for integrated media interfaces to offer a variety of options that address individual tastes.

The three cornerstones of Broadband Media Services are

• truly customized "per customer," "per media type" access to multimedia content
• content "on demand"—what you want, when you want it
• advanced interactivity

With that in mind, broadband media services are probably best described as a mix of

• Internet applications (interactive surfing of the WWW)
• e-commerce
• pay-per-view
• interactive targeted marketing

To better understand the potential of broadband media services, here are a few real-world examples of services that are being intensively developed and tested:

Media on Demand

On-demand experiences are a cornerstone of broadband media services in that users can consume content when it is convenient for them, as opposed to planning viewing or listening times around a preconceived, generic broadcast schedule. Generally, a media on demand (MOD) system's primary goal is for a client to request video or music and have it play back without interruptions, with little or no delay. MOD means that the content starts playing back from the beginning or from some specified point as opposed to joining a transmission in progress. An MOD server operating on the Internet today uses IP protocols to deliver the data. These protocols define how the server encapsulates the media file into packets and how a client decodes the received data. In MOD, content is "streamed" to the viewer in real-time. The recipient may choose whether to view the content the same time it is streamed (which is possible) or save the content in the video server to view another time.

Much more than movies or VOD, MOD could be anything—music, interactive games, university courses, vacation videos, replays from last night's hockey game, a scene from your favorite music video, a video phone call with grandma and the kids, your real-time stock portfolio with different scenarios e-mailed from your broker, a live Webcast for work. You get the idea! The premise of broadband media services is the same in that all digital content transmitted through IP networks can be "streamed" to devices and/or saved in servers, merged with other content, and ultimately viewed and interacted with. And, you will have fast, seamless access to it via a customized on-screen menu, viewable from different devices such as TV sets in different rooms of the house or PCs at the home or office. Here are two examples:

• It's Saturday night and you feel like staying home and watching a movie. You heard about a great foreign movie but you haven't been able to find it near your home. You log on to your broadband media services because you know your personal video search engine will help you locate the movie online. Then you will buy it and have it "streamed" to you instantly, but only after you've seen a preview. After you watch the movie, you notice a personalized message from the provider indicating the release date of another movie by the same director, along with a preview of the movie and an offer for 20 percent off your next purchase. Since you enjoyed this movie so much, you go ahead and order it in advance and specify the date you'd like it to be sent to your home server. Then you click on your "late night music" selections on your entertainment menu and play a few tracks from your jazz music library before you finally doze off.

• Your daughter's friend from school just got a new interactive video game for her birthday and your daughter has been rightly chosen to be the first to play with her. The only problem is, your daughter is tired from a long day by the seaside and she doesn't want to get up from the sofa. So, you fire up the laptop and drop it in her lap while her friend streams the game from her home server to yours. As your daughter desperately tries to outwit her friend at the game with the help of your speedy WLAN laptop connection, her friend has unwittingly downloaded a few "hints" from a private Internet site only available to buyers of the game. Feeling guilty after beating your daughter five games in a row, her friend decides to send a quick video demonstrating the hints for a more even match tomorrow.

Live IP Broadcasting

Of course live broadcasts exist today, but broadcasting of live events in real-time over the Internet provides a completely new range of entertainment possibilities that can be offered to end-users. There are no channel limitations and the coverage is global. Live video feed can be captured using real-time video encoders and then streamed to video servers. Broadcasting of live streams could also mean receiving satellite, cable, or terrestrial TV channels and encoding them into the IP network. Here are some examples of what IP broadcasting will mean:

• You've recently moved out of the country. You like your new home and job but you miss the local news back in your hometown, and especially the extensive coverage of your old high school football team that recently made it to the playoffs. With IP broadcasting, you can watch your local news every night and you won't miss a thing. And, you can have the local broadcast of all the playoff games "streamed" to you via IP broadcasting.

• You have tickets to the symphony but your boss just handed you a last-minute business assignment so you won't be able to go. No problem. You can have the symphony "streamed" to you in real time and keep it on in the background, while you're working, hearing it just as if you were there live. Since you've saved it on your home server, you can replay it again and again for the full video experience later.

Regional production of global sports events, concerts, and local events in real-time will become a reality and will create new revenue streams for operators. For consumers, IP broadcasting will become as close to "being there" for the live event as one could possibly get and allow people to keep close ties with favorite local programming around the globe.

New revenue opportunities abound for service providers, as broadband media services will enable advanced targeted marketing messages. Broadband media services will create new classes of advertising such as on-demand marketing, where companies provide audio and video messages to consumers who express interest in a particular product. Automakers, for example, could offer one- or two-minute video clips demonstrating the features of specific new car models. Broadband media services will enable marketers to reach consumers near the time of the purchase consideration, with content targeted directly to the actual purchase decision-makers.

Some additional revenue-generating possibilities that operators and advertisers will enjoy are

• e-commerce. Transaction commissions on e-commerce via retailers on the system.
• real-estate charge. Monthly "rent" charged to each retailer on the system including links to retail sites and a number of pages on cache memory.
• network games. End-users or groups of end-users pay for getting access to the latest games over the network.
• sponsoring packages. Arrangements for retailers to be primary or secondary service providers in a service category (hub) with exclusive exposure possibilities on portal and hubs (fixed monthly or quarterly fees).
• pop-up specials. Pop-up on-screen banners with save, open, or close functionality. An interactive alternative to TV program sponsorships or as interactive add-ons to traditional commercials. Sales synergies with hard-drive space sales.
• Internet access. Sales margin on fast Internet access sold via the system.
• hard-drive space sales. "Rent" charged to advertisers for hard-disk space necessary to display products, product catalogues, or other direct-marketing pieces via the TV. Based on alternative costs of traditional direct-marketing distribution.
• subscription. Membership fees for access to extra or enhanced services.
• digital TV sales. Sales of broadcast entertainment.

So while high speed and shared access to Internet services, media delivery, and local networks provide endless possibilities for consumers, it can also create new revenue streams for operators, media companies, and service providers, through, among other things, multiplied use of access networks, branded media portals, interactive advertising, and e-commerce.

Broadband media services enable operators to capture part of households' new TV and video services and bundle them with traditional voice services, reducing customer churn and margin pressure. Everyone will benefit. Operators and service providers will provide access to services; network providers will generate revenues by maintaining and managing modular and scalable network enhancements and add-ons; content providers will create and license new content; advertisers will target customer user groups better than ever; and end-users will enjoy a new level of personalized services.

Figure 3. Example of broadband media services revenue-boosting potential for service providers with new service opportunities for existing customers.