There’s a scene in the Back to the Future II movie where Michael J Fox’s character is being dressed down by an angry boss via the living room TV screen for taking part in an illegal scheme. That was 1989 and to Irish audiences this represented the future.

“That’s in the lab right now,” quips Fintan McTiernan of Cork-based DigiSoft.tv, a technology company that is at the spearhead of the latest international developments in digital TV and which earlier this year unveiled its own internet protocol (IP) TV set-top box.

The TV world is in a state of flux as cash-rich adults opt for the latest high-definition TVs (HDTV) and deploy digital video recorder devices to capture their favourite cable or satellite programmes.

In the paid-for TV space Sky Digital users are already using personal video recorder technologies, while earlier this week UPC Ireland introduced its digital video recorder (DVR) set-top box which can store up to 160GB of programmes or 80 hours of TV.

“People who use DVR can watch their favourite programmes back to back without relying on TV schedules,” explains Simon Kelehan, video and content manager at UPC Ireland.

While in the terrestrial space, following the passing of the new Broadcasting Bill, after 40 years of service Ireland’s analogue TV network will be switched off by 2012 to pave the way for digital terrestrial television.

Meanwhile, teenagers are subscribing to a parallel revolution, that of internet television, or IPTV, and are happily downloading music and films on demand from services like YouTube thanks to faster broadband speeds.

Into this emerging space players like Joost and Babelgum are hoping to give people with broadband access to their TV services any time, anywhere over the internet. Established TV broadcasters like the BBC with its iPlayer and Channel 4 with its 4oD services are also keen not to be left behind and have services available online.

As the TV world changes forever, Ireland is the unlikely host to many of these new advances with companies developing the enabling technologies or individuals creating businesses to capitalise on IPTV opportunities.

Established seven years ago, Cork-based DigiSoft has developed technologies for traditional digital satellite and cable TV broadcasters and is now capturing international acclaim as a developer of IPTV technologies for telecom and broadband companies.

Today, the company will be unveiling an application called DigiTracker which is designed for global IPTV operators to allow tracking of mobile phones by TV viewers, such as parents, to see the current location of their children’s mobile phone on their TV screen.

“IPTV, or TV delivered down managed internet protocol circuits, is currently being rolled out by telephone companies and broadband operators around the globe,” explains McTiernan, who is in charge of DigiSoft’s sales for the Americas. “At the moment in the US there are more than 20,000 new viewers per week signing up for IPTV.

“Using technology from DigiSoft, these operators are enabled to provide exciting new services on the TV which have never been seen before. It's really a major win-win situation for both the viewers and the operators. Telecoms companies are able to launch TV-based services that the existing cable and satellite operators are unable to deliver.

“The other big winner for the IPTV operators using DigiSoft's technology is that they really can differentiate their service offering from that of the incumbent satellite TV and cable TV operators while crucially increasing their average revenue per user (ARPU).”

One company already beginning to capitalise on the growth of IPTV is south Dublin-based Shenick, which develops security products enabling broadcasters and telecoms firms to test their networks for quality and prevent security breaches.

The company has won deals with operators keen to take on the established TV players such as Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, BT in Ireland and the UK, Verizon and Sprint in the US and NTT, Korea Telecom and Singapore Telecom in Asia.

“Quality will definitely be an issue,” explains Robert Winters, co-founder of Shenick. “The new standard MPEG 4 for digital video will demand higher compression rates and this creates more room for error and potential loss of frames. Quality of experience will be a vital issue for telecoms operators hoping to take on the established cable and satellite vendors.”

It emerged earlier this year that ambitious IPTV player Babelgum will create 100 jobs in Dublin to develop its technology for the world market. Already 40 of these jobs are in place.

The company’s chief executive Valerio Zingarelli explains: “We would define Babelgum as a global personal media company that is different from other IPTV and traditional broadcasting companies.

Zingarelli describes Babelgum, which will have its commercial launch in March, as a multimedia version of Google. “People can find programmes through a search engine. We’re really a web company, not a TV company. Also you don’t need a really fast internet connection to use it, you just need at least 384Kbps so it would be ideal for 3G mobile users too.”

Zingarelli says Babelgum will be aiming at niche content from independent production companies and some majors. “The idea is to serve people with niche content but content not easily available on mainstream TV stations. For example, a scuba diving enthusiast would be able to search for and view quality programmes on scuba.”

Competing with Babelgum will be Joost, set up by Skype founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström who have raised US$45m to create what they claim is the world’s first broadcast-quality internet TV service.

While Joost is currently the darling of majors like Warner Brothers and MTV, young Irish independent production houses are keen to get involved.

Stephen McCormack of Dublin firm WildWave already has four channels live on Joost. These include: IamTV, an Asian indie music channel; the Wildlight Channel for independent film; Havoc Television for indie music and action sports; and the Wildcard sports channel, which brings niche sports such as Canadian league football to a global audience.

“It’s a game of two halves,” says McCormack. “In traditional cable, satellite and terrestrial TV there’s plenty of innovation.

“But also on the IPTV side you have players trying to catch up. The next level will see internet television products routed to your TV in the living room as well as to your mobile phone and games
console.

“IPTV set-top boxes will colonise what you see on your living room TV and you may even see YouTube or Joost buttons on your remote control. Both Apple with its Apple TV and Microsoft with its Xbox and Silverlight technologies are keen to be involved.

“It is all about niche as well as major content,” McCormack continues. “You’ll have your usual Big Brother and X-Factor stuff combined with super-niche content. Anything that justifies having a magazine on shelves today will tomorrow have a TV channel.

“If you want to know the future of TV look at the magazine shelves, and not just the top shelf.”

Internet TV is not just any Random Thought

Former sports journalists Eamon Carey and Daire Whelan, co-founders of Random Thoughts, stumbled into the world of internet and mobile TV and have no intentions of leaving.

“We set up originally as a traditional TV production company with a view of keeping half an eye on the digital space,” says Carey. “But within a few days we realised that the digital space was our future.”

Random Thoughts is the production company behind Dunphy’s Last Word on Football on 3’s mobile network and last year did a show with Brent Pope and George Hook for the Six Nations on O2’s network.

Carey says it’s all about pushing the boundaries of TV beyond the living room. The company won a €50,000 prize from the Korean Broadcasting Commission in the Content 360 Awards in Cannes.

Going forward it is focusing on internet TV opportunities and is in talks with YouTube about creating a branded IPTV channel in the tradition of the eponymous Temple Bar show Balcony TV.

“Independent production companies are carving out a new future and look to internet firms like YouTube, Joost and Babelgum as key to a future that allows them to bypass the traditional commissioning editors at the BBC and RTE,” Carey says.

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- John Kennedy