Some operators have created the consumer expectation of free content and now they are having a hard time putting the “genie back in the bottle” when it comes to charging a fee for that content. It really puts into question the first mover advantage efforts by OTT providers to offer free content, as it appears they have potentially cannibalized their own long-term revenue streams. The question is if they can successfully extract money from existing and/or new viewers.

Sitting at a cafe in Heathrow airport after the IPTV World Forum and sipping a cup of very good coffee, I am pondering over my impressions from the show. It is a fascinating and very fragmented world. Too many components, too many dependencies, too complex integration and most likely an involved customization effort. (I saw this echoed [...]