I blogged about this a couple of hours ago, that Telkom just launched their first forray into the Internet TV/IPTV world to complement their DSL offerings.
In my previous life, I’ve been watching the IPTV/Internet space quite seriously. Being the one who’s preaching about it (unsuccessfully… ahead of the time, probably). However, recent development of Internet TV in Indonesia is very positive — fueled by YouTube craze as well, at least you got DetikTV, Kompas (KompasTV, SelebTV and VideoKu), and OkeZone, the popular ones.
(Disclaimer: I am currently working with OkeZone-related company, this whole story of my own opinion).
Now, what are my initial impressions about JakartaCityView, the new Internet TV initiative from Telkom?
1. Why doesn’t it work with Firefox?
2. Landing page offers a number of necessary features (new channels, popular channels, event highlights, schedules, shoutbox). But IMO not catchy enough. I think I still prefer a cleaner interface (white?) and more TV-centric user interface.
3. Tuning in to a channel is easy. Click on the channel logo, or the channel name in the list.
After a slight delay (5-15 sec), for initial buffering, the video will start streaming inside the white box at the upper part of the page.
The video size is 320×240 pixels – a “normal” Internet video, with acceptable frame rate and quality (I’m streaming inside Speedy network). Good enough for personal viewing in our PC. According to my BitMeter, bandwidth consumption is about 30-40 kB/s (240-320 kbit/s), in line with Speedy speed.
Since this is a broadcast, there’s no playback control button (stop, pause, FF/Rewind).
4. Non Free-To-Air channels needs a registration prior to viewing (I guess it’s a licensing issue from the rights/channel owner). However the registration process requires you to email the admin. I’m wondering if it’s better to use a registration form instead.
Sending an email right now, so let’s see the response.
Frankly, I have a mixed feeling when I saw the channel line ups. Discovery, CNN, HBO seems OK. The rest doesn’t appeal to me. (Hey it’s still supposedly a free service, so can’t complain).
5. Live Stream might become handy at times. Offering traffic cams from a number of locations: toll road (could be similar content to e.g. XL Traffic Report), shopping centers, and amusement parks. Could be, but could also be not. Could attract a huge traffic, but probably also a niche applications. Nevertheless, it’s good to have it.
I think this is just the beginning. Let’s see how they manage to improve this… potential is unlimited (well, depends on their bandwidth):
- more channels
- improvement in the UI
- stronger personalization
- entering into TV-centric model
- put a touch of social networking & community features, combined with Long Tail aggregation model… becoming THE Internet TV site of Indonesia?
- mobility? mobile version?
… and how will they market and monetize this (advertising? subscription? sponsored content? profile/usage data mining?)
