Are you ready for the IPTV/Internet TV?

With so many options now available to watch your favourite programmings on the go you might have thought about changing your mode of watching  TV at home too with the evolution of the Internet and Technology. This post have discussed all the things about the Internet, the technologies involved and the mediums available to access it. Also, is it worth to switch from tradition cable TV to only Internet TV viewing? Let’s find out!

After TRAI’s new Rules and Regulations it has become a little heavy on our pockets to view our favourite TV channels and shows. Whether it’s DTH connection or Cable TV connection. Now you have to pay the mandatory Rs153/-(the network fee) + cost of your chosen packs or channels + 18%GST. This might be costing you around Rs 400+. This was around Rs250/- or less before this rule especially for cable TV operator’s fees. On the other hand, the Internet TV can provide you the same TV channels and shows at the affordable rates and that too is limitless in terms of content you want to watch.

Now what exactly is Internet TV?

Television and the Internet are the Greatest and most influential Inventions of the 20^th century unarguably. There are more TVs in houses than people. The only means of watching Television were cable signals and over-the-air broadcasts. But now in the 21^st century we have plenty of options to choose from. Let’s discuss them:-

Broadcast TV – where an antenna picks up radio waves and transmit them to our TV in the form of sound and pictures.

Cable TV – where the cable (that is coaxial) from the TV is connected to the service provider’s large antenna delivering signals. That means signals are transmitted through coaxial cables from service provider’s control room to the houses of subscribers.

Satellite TV – where the TV is connected to the antenna transmitting and receiving the signals from the satellites orbiting the earth. Mostly people install them at their homes especially in the remote locations like villages.

There is a difference between Cable TV and Satellite TV; they both are not the same. The difference is of the equipments and the technology used in transmitting and receiving the signals.

Internet TV – where the sound and picture on our TV is received via the Internet and not from any cables and antennas. The connection methodology might or might not be same as connecting through wires but the information (or signal) is sent in the form of Data; Packet Data.

In simple words, it’s watching TV through the internet connection instead of the cable or DTH connection directly on your TV. Internet TV is also called Streaming TV or IPTV (Internet Protocol Television). Though IPTV is different from Internet TV we’ll discuss it later on this post below. You might be watching your favourite shows on your mobile phones, tablets and PC’s and now the same things can be viewed on TV too with the advancement in the technology but connection methodology is somewhat different from mobile devices, we’ll discuss about them later on.

With the continuous enhancement and evolution in the technology we have come a long way from just Reading a newspaper came Radio and gave it a competition, then came Television and challenged Radio, and now the various forms of technological evolution in the Television only gave the competition to itself only. From a small B&W Box to the Big Coloured Box to the Flat screens to the Plasma TV to the RollableTV to the TV that can run on an Internet connection and that too via WI-FI. It certainly has come a Long way. Before the Smart TV concept, Internet Programming was in use people could watch the TV on their Computer screens or Mobile devices like cell phones and iPods. Various apps of different TV channels were already available to be viewed on the Mobile phones only.

The Great benefit of Internet TV: Ease of access to the desirable content.

There is a wide variety of content on the Internet and the good thing is that you can access it anytime you want, pause it, re-watch it million times, no limitations. Many websites offer separately produced programs to the interests of a particular set of audiences (target audience). For example, comedy shows, sports and fitness based, Drama based, cookery special, DIY stuff, Historical etc. You can find these over the Internet more effortlessly than on the regular TV. Though Satellite TV has an option of on-demand services, VOD(Video on Demand), for Movies or shows too, you have to subscribe or pre-pay to watch them like PPV (Pay Per View). Whereas on the IPTV there are things like Live Video streaming, Live Broadcasting of an event or so. Cost, Quantity and Quality may vary for IPTV programming.

With the rise in power of the World Wide Web, Television has blossomed over the years and with that Internet TV is the next big thing around the globe; in fact it is now the big thing around. The Good thing about Internet Television is that it cannot dictate people’s schedules that they have to be there at a set place and time if you want to watch a program. There was a time too when you can record your favourite show to watch it later on through VCR or TiVO or on your pen drive through your set top box. Now the programming can be managed according to your schedule on the streaming medium. Your time your rules!

The only requirements are the internet enabled TV, a stable and high speed internet connection and certain consoles or devices to enable TV to view online content. Of late the new generation of televisions are already equipped with the latest hardware and apps pre-installed but still there arises a need for the external gadgets to reach the vast variety of content that the ocean called web has and updated every second.

History: a look into the timeline of Evolution of TV

The invention of Television cannot be credited to one person only. There are many who contributed differently to the evolution of Television from CRT screen to the Plasma/LED/OLED at present.

Take a little look back at the history of evolution of Television.

Year 1924 – 1^st Television was invented

Year 1940 – Year of the 1^st ever colour Television

Year 1964 – The very first prototype for a plasma display monitor was invented at the University of Illinois.

Year 1992 – Year of 1^st 21-inch Plasma TV by Fujitsu

Year 2007 – 1^st Smart TV developed

Early versions:

Mechanical Television: (1800s to early 1900s) Mechanical rotating disks were used to scan moving images into electrical impulses to be transmitted to a screen via a cable. The 1^st mechanical TV was called W3XK and it’s 1^st broadcast was on July 1928.

Electronic Television: This was based on CRT; Cathode Ray Tube. An electronic beam scanned a picture in horizontal lines and thus producing an Image. Cathode Ray Tube was invented by Karl Ferdinand in 1897. CRT uses the combination of electricity and camera. It has a fluorescent screen that emits a visible light in the form of images when struck by a beam of electrons. 1^st ELECTRONIC TELEVISION was invented in 1927.

In 1939, NBC was the 1^st network to introduce regular broadcasts. Before that, there were only special broadcasts like presidential election, boxing matches, news reports and 1936 Olympics Berlin.

1940s, With the Onset of World War 2, TV innovation was stopped by the government, to put efforts on developing the Radar technology. But this was also the decade of COLOR TELEVISION.

1950s, the Golden age of Television. Economical boom in the TV market, many people bought TV sets. A plethora of TV programs were there too at this time and Remote control was invented too.

1960s, more news was televised than newspapers. Scientific news was televised and seen by many, moon landing, space travel, Vietnam War etc. TVs became more portable and affordable and were approx 200 million around the globe.

1970s, first broadcast satellite television was launched in 1972. 1978 was the last year large Black and White consoles were manufactured.

1980s, boom in the cable TV network and introduction to TV accessories like VCR, which took the world by storm as people can watch movies in their comfort zone and also can record their favourite programs too. And second one was introduction to the gaming console; NINTENDO.

1990s, various TV technologies like Plasma and LCD were in experimental stages. Standard CRT televisions were still leading the market. Televisions of 90s include additional features like picture in picture, sleep timers and parental controls. Besides these there was the boom in the internet section. PCs were affordable and Internet was accessible through dial-up ISPs. This decade was the onset of the Information Technology.

2000s, the arrival of 21^st century, TV and Internet were never be the same. The innovations lead to new and improved forms of what we have today. This was the decade of DVD players, the end of the era of VCR. Though these were introduced a decade ago but gained popularity a decade later. Movie watching experience was enhanced with DVDs.

Along with these, PLASMA and LCD technology was advancing and thin but larger screens and better picture quality were introduced. It was the diminishing era of Boxed TVs and thin TVs were taking a less space.

TiVo changed the TV watching experience as it can pause the Live broadcasts, record TV programs and schedule recordings based on show timings and channel. This enabled people to watch their programs at their time and not on the network’s time.

2009 was the year of Digital Television. Analogue TVs were outdated and all the TV networks were providing signals in digital only.

What else in the 21^st century?

After the successful run of DVDs then came the HD DVD and Blu-ray disks. These are meant for High-Definition quality videos. And finally TV goes online now with the introduction of the high speed internet, high speed video streaming and digital networks. Many recorded programs were available online and people started posting their own content so this made the production houses to make their programs available online.

The television was introduced with uncertainty and fear. No one believed it would change the way we see the world. Now, people are more attached to their televisions than ever, including programming on computers and cell phones; and manufactures, broadcasters and producers are continually finding new ways to bring big entertainment to the small screen.

That was about the evolution of TV throughout the years. Now about the network that enables us to stream and watch the content over a network.

In 1969, a packet-switching system of distributing information between a set of computers was developed and it was called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network). The motto was jus t to keep communication lines open. ARPANET is discussed here as it is the leader or front-runner of the modern day thing we have that’s called the Internet. This gave people a medium to pass on text, images and data over the communication lines. No one knew then that it’s going to be the future of communication, the gigantic mode of communication and transmission in the 21^st century.

In 1994, ABC world news broadcasted their News show on the Internet for the very first time. Cisco also started broadcasting TV programming over the internet. Audionet started music streaming over the web. So after this beginning there was the time for further innovation in this field of technology. Therefore Internet TV had 3 uses – 1. VoD (Video on Demand) 2. iTV (Interactive TV) and 3. Live TV.

Internet television was the option of a normal broadcast television for the audience. Big broadcast companies did not take any time to realize that this could easily reduce the number of their viewers. They realized that the surest way of combating this new danger was to work with it. Mostly, every major broadcast company has developed its own internet distribution arms.

One of the leading groups was HULU a division of NBC, who distributed its content on the Internet. It proved to be very successful. Now, the rest of the major broadcasting companies (as well as many smaller ones) have developed their own Internet TV groups. Many people have created their own branches to develop Internet-specific content (ISC), as well as the content that was previously broadcasted, provided the audience was according to their schedule.

In September 1995, ESPN SportsZone Live streamed a broadcast of a baseball game for its thousands of subscribers using the technology developed by the then start-up company called “Progressive Networks”. And it was the world’s first Live streaming event. A few later that company changed its name to “Real Networks”. This company later on entangled itself in a Legal war with Microsoft for the domination in the brand new technology called streaming media. Thanks to Windows Media Technologies, Microsoft emerged victorious in the war with Real Networks but was unable to make profits from it.

Another US-based company was able to gamble away that advantage and it was known as Macromedia, which was later acquired by the Adobe Systems. In the mid 2000’s this company captured the market share of Microsoft in the field of streaming media with its popular ‘Flash Player’ that completely took over the streaming media industry worked effortlessly with web 2.0. This was surely the new era.

Adolescence Age of Streaming Media(http based streaming)

2000s was the era of the further growth of this media. Earlier streaming was based on Proprietorship protocol, user was dependent on the internet bandwidth. Then taking a large number of audiences into consideration the Internet traffic was based on HTTP and CDN (content delivery networks). Player application was used to monitor the downloading speeds and the requesting of different quality sizes could be initiated. The http based adaptive streaming was introduced by a company named MOVE NETWORKS.

This technology had a great effect as it allowed streaming media to be dispersed widely using CDN and also it was cached for efficiency so the user shouldn’t get annoyed due to buffering issues.

Now after this innovation, others followed the trend using their own platform. In 2008, NETFLIX developed its own streaming service. In 2009, Apple developed HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) for iOS devices. In 2010, Adobe developed HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS). Later on this technology was widely used in high-profile Live Events like London Olympics, Wimbledon etc. And very soon Premium On-Demand Services were introduced by Netflix, Amazon, Hulu etc.

A Look back at the evolution of various Industry Standards.

In 2009 efforts were made to set industry standards for adaptive transmission in 3GPP. The initial 3GPP standardization work was transferred to the groups working in the MPEG ISO / IEC in 2010. More than 50 companies were included, including Microsoft, Netflix and Apple, and this effort was coordinated with other industry organizations such as 3GPP, DECE, OIPF and W3C.

In April 2012 a new standard was introduced: Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP, which is commonly known as MPEG-DASH. Next was DASH264, as the name suggests it provide significant inter-support requirements for the H.264 video codec, which has been an industry standard for the better part of the last decade. DASH264 HE-AAC v2 defines other necessary inter-dependency requirements like audio codec, ISO base media file format, support for SMPTE-TT subtitled format and MPEG common encryption for content security (DRM).

Just in a few years Streaming media technology took a huge jump from below Standard definition (SD) video to rather solid 720p HD video. However the quality of Video-on-Demand Over The Top (OTT) services lags behind the Blu-Ray Quality and Broadcast TV.

However, most HD videos are delivered on satellite (DVB-S2), for example, 1080i video H.264-compressed at 17-37 Mbps, most HD streamed video is only one 3-4 Mbps Is encoded on. Broadcast television is always distributed at 50 Hz in Europe, while streaming video is almost always given at half-frame rate - 25 Hz in Europe, 30 Hz in North America. Finally, broadcast audio is usually mixed and these days are given around 5.1, while streaming audio is still largely a stereo issue (or Mono on occasion).

As digital media quality is primarily dependent on bandwidth, there are two definite ways to increase quality: either by increasing bandwidth or by improving compression efficiency at current bit rates. The former can only grow faster as the normal internet bandwidth, but can be improved later with new codec technologies. One such codec technology is H.265 - the latest development of the highly successful joint collaboration between ISO / IEC MPEG and ITU which brought us H.264 a decade ago.

In 2013, the ratification of H.265 which promises to increase 40-45% increase in compression efficiency (or decrease in bandwidth) compared to existing H.264 technology. Media providers effectively streaming such a boost can deliver 1080p (full HD) video to the same 3-4 Mbps, which is also used for 720p video distribution, or proportional increase in bandwidth. Increase the frame rate to 50/60 Hz without need. In fact, many have seen the news of H.265 as the beginning of the 4K video era, where the quality of the streaming video can ultimately overtake the standards of slow transmission.

How Internet TV actually works?

The audio, video delivery over the Internet is dependent on two things - Streaming and Bandwidth.

What is Streaming?

This is a technology where we can watch Live Broadcast or Video-On-Demand or listen to the audio whether songs, speeches, e-books etc directly without downloading them on our PC or Phone. It’s also known as buffering. The Video plays directly on the website so you don’t have to worry about downloading the files and wait for them. This provides the instant access to the files but it needs a stable internet connection.

Various service providers without any previous downloads provide the smoothest streaming possible use the proprietary technology. With this, games, music, movies, TV shows can be instantly viewed without having to pre download them. This technology made services like Netflix and Amazon Prime the top most choice and names in the streaming media field.

What makes streaming possible?

The Server makes it possible. It holds the data and sends it when requested. Whenever we click the “PLAY” button on the YouTube app or any streaming website or app, the video starts playing as a message is sent to that particular server. It then responds by sending that particular data to your player. In this technology there are certain protocols for streaming so that correct information is sent to the receiver and in the correct format or quality that was requested. On a computer when using a website for streaming there are certain Plugins that make it easy to stream the content as they have the ability to decode the signals whereas the apps in the mobile devices already have all these things and are designed in this way so as to make the streaming effortless. And streaming can be video as well as audio. You can watch LIVE News broadcast or LIVE cricket match or you can listen to the LIVE Radio broadcasts too and in spite of these you can also stream the pre-recorded audio/video stored on their respective servers.

What is Bandwidth?

First let us understand it in technological words as the way it is defined: The range of frequencies within a band/wavelength to transmit a signal. It is a rate (speed) at which information can be transmitted (data transfer) along the devices or communication lines without distortion. So it is basically a certain amount of data that is to be transmitted.

Let’s understand it in an easy way:

Imagine a highway and vehicles on it. So the highway is Internet and vehicles are information. The more the vehicles on the highway the more the traffic and that will lead to the slow speed of the moving traffic. The less the vehicles the more the speed. A single vehicle on the road means the great speed. This is how the Internet works. The transfer rate of data files is slower and late when many people are downloading the same file and the transfer rate is higher and quick when only a single person is downloading that file.

Now the number of lanes on the highway is Bandwidth. If there are fewer lanes on a highway there will be traffic congestion and if there are more lanes the traffic flow will be efficient. In the same way if the bandwidth of a website is very low, data transfer rate will be slower. And if the website’s bandwidth is high, data transfer rate will be hassle free. So Bandwidth plays a very important role for the Internet TV as larger bandwidths are required to transfer larger amount of data (that’s audio and video) over the internet.

To watch the High Quality content on your Smart TV you need to have a very high-speed Internet connection. No fluctuations just a smooth flow all that is required. But if the quality doesn’t matter or you are adjustable to the picture quality then the high-speed internet doesn’t matter, a mediocre one can do the things for you. The apps these days have auto-adjustable video quality that depends on the speed of your Internet. Suppose your speed is slow the app will automatically choose the quality that is best suitable on that speed, for example 144p or 240p. But if you get high speeds in between, the quality will also be automatically increased to 480p, 720p or even 1080p. That’s the benefit of modern day technology for Internet TV viewing.

Difference between IPTV and Internet TV

Previously

The delivery or transmission of TV channels/programmes over the Internet Protocol network through PSN (Packet Switched Network). Through IPTV the content or TV channel starts streaming immediately without any hurdle. The connectivity architecture is very different than Internet TV connection. It uses a secure dedicated private network. Common services available are Video on Demand, Multiple programs at the same time on the same screen, schedule time of the program to your suitability. It requires a Set-Top box and an IPTV enabled TV. A few examples are Verizon, AT&T, FiOS etc. Whereas for Internet TV you don’t need a set-top box, you will just need an Internet connection, a router and an Internet enabled TV that can connect to the router through wire or WI-FI.

All in all the basic difference is the network type. IPTV uses a private network that is dedicated too and thus it’s fully secure whereas the other uses the public network system. Another thing is the high Quality content that it offers surely, for Internet TV quality is bandwidth or network speed dependent as we discussed earlier. Rest, IPTV will too work on a Set-Top box like cable TV or Satellite TV connection.

Another thing that is actually a benefit for the user of ITV is the viewing of same content over the multiple platforms; you can watch that show on your Tablet, Mobile phone or PC along with the TV, In case of IPTV its only one way road. That means viewing is limited to the TV only.

Current Scenario

The above lines tell you what actually is IPTV, or was. I used was because here the above architecture and its comparison with Internet TV is now diminishing. These both are kind of merged together now. As in the early days streaming was literally low quality. But now it’s advanced like the traditional IPTV services.

Accessing Streaming Services: Modes and Devices to connect

There are various means of connecting to the streaming services and they are very convenient. The biggest charm of the streaming media is that you can view it at your terms and conditions and don’t have to depend on the air timings or the scheduled timing. Movies and TV Shows on the go; that means you can watch your favourite content anywhere anytime and do not have to be in front of the TV at its scheduled time.

There are plenty of devices available to stream the media. It can be accessed via smartphones, tablets, pc, Mac, chromecast, fire-stick, apple TV, android TV, gaming consoles like Nintendo and Xbox. Almost every streaming service can also be accessed through web browsers. They have their websites where you can register yourself and start watching.

However, there are a few exceptions in the subscription criteria of these services. Some provide it free of cost; some provide 7, 10 or 30 days free trial. Some offer pay-per-view services, some offer monthly or annual fee subscription based services.

Let us now discuss about the various streaming service providers and what do they offer.

There are innumerable streaming service providers on the web. They provide the unlimited content for your entertainment and the access to the content varies. Some are free and some are premium. Lets us discuss the top-most players in this field and what they offer.

Netflix:

It offers 4 types of plans and the video quality is according to those plans. These plans are:

Basic: Rs500/- per month; video quality - SD

Standard: Rs650/- per month; video quality - HD

Premium: Rs800/- per month; video quality – 4K/UHD

Ultra: Rs950/- per month; video quality – 4K/UHD with the highest quality audio.

Free Trial: 1 Month.

Content: Web series, Movies & TV shows

Compatible devices: Smart TVs, Streaming media devices, PC, Tablet, Mac, Smartphones, Fire-sticks.

Streaming Devices: Apple TV, Android TV, Chromecast, Amazon fire-stick.

Browser: Almost every modern day browser.

Compatible Smartphone OS: iOS, Android.

Amazon Prime Video

Plan: Rs129/- per month; video quality – SD/HD/4K/UHD.

Free Trial: 30 days.

Content: Web series, Movies & TV shows.

Compatible devices: Smart TVs, Streaming media devices, PC, Tablet, Mac, Smartphones, Fire-sticks.

Streaming Devices: Amazon fire-stick, Apple TV, Android TV, Chromecast.

Browser: Almost every modern day browser.

Compatible Smartphone OS: iOS, Android.

SONY LIV

It too offers 4 types of plans and the video quality is according to those plans. These plans are:

Premium 1 Month: Rs99/- ; video quality - HD

Premium 3 Months: Rs50/- ; video quality - HD

Premium 6 Months: Rs299/- ; video quality – HD

Premium 12 Months: Rs499/- ; video quality – HD

Video Quality is network dependent you get auto mode so that it will adjust the quality according to the internet speed and you also get data saver mode option too.

Free Trial: No for premium content. Yes for the already aired content on the Sony Network TV channels that you would like to watch later at your suitable time. That means all the non premium content can be viewed.

Content: Movies, Live TV shows, Web series and Live Sports.

Compatible devices: Smart TVs, Smartphones, PC, Mac.

Streaming Devices: Amazon fire-stick, Chromecast.

Browser: Almost every modern day browser.

Compatible Smartphone OS: iOS, Android.

Hotstar

Plans are Annual and Monthly.

Premium Annual: Rs999/- per year; video quality - HD

Premium Monthly: Rs299/- per month; video quality – HD

Video Quality is network dependent you get auto mode so that it will adjust the quality according to the internet speed and you also get data saver mode option too.

Free Trial: 7 days for premium content. Though the already aired content on the Star network TV channels can be viewed on hotstar app and website and also the non premium content that includes Movies, Web series, Kids entertainment and TV shows.

Content: Movies, Live TV shows, Live News, Web series and Live Sports.

Compatible devices: Smart TVs, Smartphones, PC, Mac.

Streaming Devices: Amazon fire-stick, Chromecast.

Browser: Almost every modern day browser.

Compatible Smartphone OS: iOS, Android.

ZEE5

Plans are Annual and Monthly.

Premium Annual: Rs999/- per year; video quality - HD

Premium Monthly: Rs99/- per month; video quality – HD

Video Quality is network dependent you get auto mode so that it will adjust the quality according to the internet speed and you also get data saver mode option too.

Free Trial: Free version is available on almost all the available platforms so you can enjoy all your favourite Zee Network programs for free.

Content: Movies, TV shows and Live News, Web series and Kids entertainment.

Compatible devices: Smart TVs, Smartphones, PC, Mac.

Streaming Devices: Amazon fire-stick, Chromecast.

Browser: Almost every modern day browser.

Compatible Smartphone OS: iOS, Android.

Voot

A viacom 18 company that provide streaming services.

It’s an app that provide free content of the various shows aired on Colors TV, MTV, New18, CNBC etc. Video Quality is network dependent you get auto mode so that it will adjust the quality according to the internet speed and you also get data saver mode option too.

Free Trial: No trial, Content is free.

Content: Movies, TV shows, Web series, News.

Compatible devices: Smart TVs, Smartphones.

Streaming Devices: Amazon fire-stick, Chromecast.

Browser: App only content, No content on the browser.

Compatible Smartphone OS: iOS, Android.

JioTV

This needs no introduction as most of the Jio users are familiar with this jio app. It’s a LIVE TV mobile app and can be accessed only by the Jio users and with jio sim in the phone or Jiofi device.

Free Trial: No trial, Content is free for jio subscribers.

Content: TV shows from most of the TV channels in the country. You can watch them LIVE and time-wise too.

Compatible devices: Smartphones/Tablets.

Streaming Devices: No. It cannot be casted on TV, you can only view it in your smartphone as it is designed for this purpose only.

Browser: App only content, No content on the browser.

Compatible Smartphone OS: iOS, Android.

The above information is about the famous and most widely used TV apps in India. Besides these, there are many other options to watch your favourite TV shows and movies and I will try to list them all in my next post soon.

Now, how good is it Switching from Cable TV/Satellite TV to Internet TV?

It is true that the cable TV fee has been hiked by the cable operators in the name of TRAI’s new rules and regulations. They’re charging around 300 to 400 bucks a month to show you all the channels in a package. And many are still not availing the option for the customer to choose the channels or package of their own choice and likings. So it’s clearly expensive from the previous fee with the hike of Rs 200 to 300 per connection.

While DTH on the other hand has the option to choose from the a la carte menu or the packages and add-ons of the customer’s choice and yes the big packages with more than 350 channels too.

Now the thing with the Internet TV is that, it is good for the people who have all the required equipments to access IPTV. A good and fast internet connection, Smart TV, Streaming devices, fire sticks and above all, the paid subscription for the desired regular content which is varied from app to app. In India people always try to find a ‘Jugaad’ for everything as we all know. People who can afford to watch the various Exclusive online contents from Netflix/Amazon/Hotstar/Sony LIV etc, it is very good for them. But not for all. Who cannot afford can only watch the free content on theirs respective apps.

The subscription is the ‘Variety’ that is being offered(exclusive variety). The different ideas and programming from the routine Television shows. From web series to other shows that is premium and only a selective number of people has the access to it. So its a break from the traditional TV. That’s the only difference.

Whereas, Cable/Satellite Television is affordable and cheap and satisfies the viewer to an extent. But the technology keeps on evolving and that time is not far away when the Internet TV viewership will increase drastically. Like customers of Mobile phones increased, Data pack became affordable and almost everyone has the access to the various apps and internet facilities.

So this was all about the Internet, Television and Internet TV. The Past, present and future I tried to discuss here, the technology that evolved from boxes to flat screens to Rollable TV/from dial-up to wireless connectivity/from cable TV to Internet TV; it has surely come a long way and much more yet to be evolved.

Thanks for your patience and please comment if you would like to add something I’m missing here or feel free to ask something.