Microsoft to Develop Broadband TV For Telcos… Well it will be now a blue-tone of death.

Microsoft says it will develop software to deliver standard television over the Internet, targeting telecoms operators wanting to expand their business. Bell Canada and India’s Reliance Infocomm will work with Microsoft to develop a commercial product by the end of 2004. [This is part of MSFT’s new IPTV initiative. [PaidContent.org]

Apparently Microsoft brags about sending broadcast quality television using its proprietary Windows Media Player technology at speeds of one Megabits per second. Two points I would like to make:

Point#1: Folks at Alcatel and several others are already sending open-standard digital video streams over DSL pipes in Asian countries.

Point#2: Microsoft is so good at making these hype announcements. For instance, can they explain how much support they have from set-top box makers who are going to include the Microsoft standards in their boxes. Nothing to that effect so far from Microsoft. They tried it with the cable companies, got smacked around despite investing mega-billions of dollars. Why would phone companies adopt this?

Reliance Infocom is still not the leading provider in India, it is an emerging provider and they would have a lot of work to do before the creaking phonelines back in Indian metros would be able to handle more than just low-bandwidth phone calls.