While recent studies have estimated China's IPTV market to scoop up 25 million cable TV customers and generate $1.9 billion in revenue by 2008, some industry pundits paint a far less rosy picture and have a strong case:
- The IP backbone, video headend and access networks required for IPTV are expensive, leading to a monthly subscriber fee three times that of cable's expected prices in China.
- Advertisers will be unwilling to pay if the subscriber base is small, some say it will be closer to 7 or 8 million instead of 25 million subscribers by 2008.
- The government seems to favor digital TV and cable TV, according to insiders.
- Only two IPTV licenses have been granted so far in the country, which has slowed down the technology's deployment.
For more on China's IPTV landscape, including a brief history of it:
- see this lengthy article in Telecom Magazine