Expert: Cezar L. Palconet - 5/2/2011

Question
Because of the limited opportunity to buy a spectrum in the US would it be possible to build a IPTV Network like a U-Verse by purchasing backbone service for i.e. AT&T, Comcast, Cox, Time Warner, Verizon? This is something I've been interested in both personally ands business wise.

Answer
Hi,  Quinn
There are several entrepreneurs who have taken this path and some have been successful, but the major key to their success was a close relationship with their network and content providers.
IPTV networks are basically intranets, If you've set up an intranet or public website, you can set up your own IPTV network with its own service contents and programs. You don't need massive and expensive servers, specialized set-top boxes or development teams. With the right hardware and software, you should be able to start a small IPTV service.

Depending on the scope and distribution that you have in mind, it is within the bounds of simple to a very complex and expensive investment.

Since you mentioned backbone service, Leasing or renting bandwidth resources from service providers to deliver your contents, can be a daunting financial investment, depending on your expected subscriber traffic, you will probably need between E3 34 Mbits/s to at least  an E1 2 Mbits/s. That is assuming that the service provider is not delivering the same service, like ADSL or any of its derivatives.

A very interesting site with a sound business plan;

http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/erp/article.php/3586006/IPTV-Content-Provider-S...

If you are contemplating on a business plan i would suggest the following sites;

http://www.huawei.com/publications/view.do?id=685&cid=342&pid=61
http://www.masterplans.com/business-plan-articles/iptv-business-plan
http://wwwen.zte.com.cn/endata/magazine/ztetechnologies/2010/no6/articles/201006...

Regards.