Time-shifted television topped the list of features consumers would be most interested in from an IPTV service, according to a new study being released Monday from Siemens Communications Inc. and In-Stat, a market-research firm that is a sister company to Multichannel News.
In-Stat surveyed 1,662 adults in December, querying them on IPTV services they may be interested in. Some 18% said they would “probably” or “definitely” switch providers to get IPTV service, while 34% said they would switch if offered a 10% discount off the bundle price of television service.
Some 90% were interested in time-shifted TV -- the ability to watch a show whenever they want. However, that would require programmers or broadband-service providers to either store all TV shows or have them available on a video-on-demand basis. So far, only a handful of shows are available on that basis.
Other features that scored well:
• 69%: Caller ID on the TV;
• 63%: Interactive-TV information;
• 58%: Home surveillance (watching infant’s room with camera);
• 58%: Logging all phone calls from all phones on TV;
• 57%: Parental control from cellular phone;
• 56%: Directing calls to voice mail when watching TV;
• 53%: Video telephony; and
• 52%: Voice telephony.
At the bottom of the list were watching TV online with friends (23%); storing and watching TV programming later on a mobile device (34%); and gaming (37%) -- perhaps a manifestation that the average age of the respondents were males, 42 years old.
Respondents said they were most interested in paying extra for time-shifted TV, video telephony and the home-surveillance feature.
