GWorld
In this scenario, the internet TV/Mobile TV experiences a long-term development with stable growth. Governments and telecoms all over the world have budget to invest in building network infrastructure, and the high-speed development of network infrastructure makes it possible for the internet bandwidth to support high quality television contents; there are an increasing number of programs that users can choose to watch. Advertisers and some big IT companies cover the cost of the services so users can get the service for free. More and more customers would like to watch programs on the internet and the traditional television market becomes smaller and gradually diminishes.
2008 The usage of internet experiences a huge growth all over the world. Current worldwide internet users almost amount to more than 1,362 million and will grow to 1,781 million in 2010, which means, by now, approximately 22 percent of the Earth's population is surfing the Internet regularly. At the same time, millions of internet users choose to use the web to engage in entertainment such as computer games and online videos. Nearly 73.7 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video18. People now spend more and more times in front of their PCs instead of TV. However, they become impatient to wait for a long time on buffering before watching the videos, as well as bad quality of these contents and limited number of live stream contents. They ask for governments and telecoms to invest on high quality of broadband service so that they can experience internet TV or IPTV. At the same time, as the quick development of transportation and the globalization, people are willing to and need to travel by air or train. Traveler would ask why I cannot watch TV contents on my journey using my laptop or mobile phone. Some other people who study or work abroad want to get access to programs from their homelands which may be constrained by digital rights and government regulations.
On the other hand, the services suppliers, IT companies, telecoms and broadcasting companies are thinking about the change of customers’ viewing habits and the development direction in the future. The advertisers consider whether internet TV is a more profitable channel than traditional TV advertisement.
At the same time, digital divide is still a major issue in many counties where people do not have access to digital technology. The lack of broadband makes people in these areas to be left out of the world in which broadband is the basic part of daily life. Besides clean water and jobs, people here also eager to get access to digital technology which greatly enhances the effectiveness and affordability of efforts to improve the water supply, improve rural health and education, generate jobs and address any of the other interrelated problems of poverty. The governments of these countries are asked to build network infrastructure in order to fulfill their people’s needs as well as getting development.
2009 As the pollution issue becomes increasingly serious, people all over the world ask for environment-friendly PCs which consume less electricity while solve the E-waste issues. The price of oil rockets to sky-high, people have to reduce the use of their own cars. Instead of going to cinemas and theaters, some people will stay at home watching online movies. More people will choose public traffic then they will use laptops or mobile phone for entertainment. Major internet players such as Google and Microsoft think that there is large potential in internet TV and mobile TV market, and they would like to be key players in this market. Some new compression standards are published that improve the quality of internet TV. These large companies also negotiate with governments to support the development of this market.
2010 From this year, the world economy begins resuscitating, it is possible for governments and telecoms of developed countries to have budget to invest in building high quality network infrastructure which can support internet TV. In order to close the digital divide, UN and World Bank increase investment to help depressed area build broadband services (bandwidth, WIFI) and the governments there also enact preferential regulations that attract foreign companies to invest on network infrastructure building.
2011 The support from governments and large companies like Google and Microsoft makes more and more companies reallocate their advertisement budget, from traditional TV to internet TV. Using their network technology resource, Google and Microsoft enter the online advertisement market. They create many widgets that offer social networking services to internet TV users, let users interact with other users, and users can make friends with people who have the same habits, at the same time users can choose advertisements they are interested in by just clicking the mouse.
2012 The success of internet players like Google and Microsoft in advertisement market gives them large budgeting power when negotiate with content suppliers such as film studios and broadcasting companies, and then they become the key players in the content supply chain. In order to attract and sustain PC users to use the other products and services of their companies, those players offer free internet TV to their users, the internet TV is like a value-added service. However, the service cannot reach poor areas till this year.
2013 After years of efforts, the digital divide diminishes gradually; people in most countries get the access to internet services. However, the existing digital right inhibits the free distribution of online content.
2014 As internet TV become the major entertainment way, governments of different countries together with companies like Google, Microsoft and Adobe organize a series of negotiation and finally come to an agreement that these companies can offer digital right-free contents to users across the world.
2015 In this year high quality broadband service become possible in most of countries. People can enjoy rich contents for free through mobile phone and PCs anywhere anytime. People get used to watching programs through PCs and mobile phones, so the traditional TV market becomes smaller or even diminished.
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