The current Internet version of streaming TV and file transfer with local play-out was introduced in the mid-1990's with the deployment of streaming media. This involved the PC capturing bits and displaying them on the consumer's screen and playing out the sound to the audio equipment, without first creating a complete file at the receiver.

The data service Internet overlay, built on top of the current public switched telephone networks (PSTN) in an TDM infrastructure does not have the performance capability, scalability, or local access bandwidth needed to support mass market multiple channel IPTV service. As will be discussed later, a Web TV service requires lines to support 20 to 30 megabits per second, and now few service lines as such actually exist.

Figure 3: Current Internet overlay data network topology

As shown in Figure 3, ISPs, individual ADSL/CMTS users, and even data centers are interconnected with small shared use pipes to the public data network backbone, where capacity is virtually unlimited. While bigger pipes could be purchased at higher prices, where available, the backbone itself lacks the necessary synchronicity and latency management needed to control the quality of services and user experience.

Privately-managed enterprise network IP infrastructures exist, using private lines and multiprotocol label switching (MPLS). Scaling such networks for residential IPTV seems impractical and the bandwidth still has to be placed into the access market; regardless, this will probably be achieved in a high density cluster of people. New IPTV infrastructures are needed to solve the access bandwidth problems on a cost-effective basis. The IPTV plan is to provide big pipes and aggregated high value content to a large number of paying residential customers.

Most people attribute the current Internet streaming process to Microsoft, which was introduced to the PC market in the mid-1990s. Streaming packet-based video was operational in UNIX environments and proprietary video servers, as early as 1992. The streaming Internet TV process has been evolving for over 10 years, as part of the Internet cauldron of hype and hope.

The Microsoft Media Player release 10 is in the field today. Other media players from Apple, Real Player, and a myriad of other independent software vendors (ISVs) also exist and most have a high degree of Internet streaming software maturity.

Although the current streaming processes work, they are not easy for consumers to use and they still have video coding, audio complexities, and player anomalies, in addition to the problems caused by the lack of bandwidth and the over-subscription of connections.

One must consider the availability of massive amounts of new digital access bandwidth to the consumer home and a new non-Internet backbone, designed for video quality performance. This new bandwidth infrastructure makes Web TV applications and multiple channel IPTV applications practical and economically viable.

In fact, with enough bandwidth, home media gateways and PCs could eliminate the need for a proprietary STB. However, a right STB built into the TV with web application services could, in theory, eliminate the need for the home PC and still satisfy the demand for voice, data, and video services.

The architectural model conflict between the PC and STB is both a technical and business issue. Based on its nature and operation, the PC puts network resources under the control of the consumer device, such as in P2P networking, while the STB puts the consumer and their devices under control of the network supplier, as in client/server networking.

Overall, the "fuss" behind IPTV mostly surrounds how the handling of both network resources and content consumption impacts account control, wallet share, and profits.