Broadbands Future and opportunity

The future of broadband is about to explode. With the avdvent of IPTV and Wimax as well as other technologies things will change dramatically.

IPTV

Recently Microsoft and SBC announced a joint IPTV ( Internet Protocol television). IPTV will use fiber to the home and or VDSL2. This dramatically speed up internet access and allow technologies that we have dreamed about such as full screen video conferencing.

I was a bit suprised to hear that IPTV was intended for PC
viewing...... So this seems like a way for Microsoft to gain a
foothold in the home enterainment market with it''s Windows Media
player PC devices. Now Microsoft has a direct inroad into home
enertainment. Now IPTV becomes the default choice for those who
choose to use it. Microsoft has talked about X-box becoming the home
entertainment device. With their DRM technology this gives MS the
ability to control and charge for what content is delivered. I
believe Microsoft will use it's money to seed the market. On the
otherhand IPTV creates more competition for Cable and Satellite.....
This raises some interesting questions:
1. Will IPTV be able to be viewed in other formats such as HDTV.
2.Will there be a device to convert IPTV signals to other formats.
3.Can IPTV be be viewed with Realplayer.....??

Recently the Supreme court ruled that the cable companies don't have to allow other ISP's on their networks.
So if the telcos follow suit and are allowed to do the same then the ISP's will respond.
I predict that they will start to deploy fixed point Wimax since it is about to become a standard
later on this year.