IPv6 Multicast Enables IP TV service

Plala Network

IPv6 multicast was adopted for the first time in the world in a commercial IP TV service started on July 28, 2004. The 4th MEDIA Service aims to attract 200,000 subscribers in the first year. It will probably become the largest consumer IPv6 service soon.

In Japan, there had already been two IP TV services available: BBTV by Yahoo! BB and Hikari Plus TV by KDDI. A major difference of 4th MEDIA with them in business model is that 4th MEDIA is rather a horizontal business alliance.

4th MEDIA Service is a broadcasting and VOD service started by Plala Networks, an NTT East group ISP business, in an alliance with Online TV, a company established by Jupiter Programming and others for this service. The business is supported by several ISPs, including @nifty, BIGLOBE, and hi-ho, as well as Plala, for user support and fee collection.

Plala Networks has provided IP phone operation for other ISPs. The company started video service in a similar scheme. The fact that 4th MEDIA broadcasting uses IPv6 multicast means that each set top box gets directly connected to IPv6.

This service is offered to those using Flet's ADSL or B Flet's, access services by NTT East. NTT East offers an IPv6 connectivity service called Flet's .Net over these infrastructures, and this is used by 4th MEDIA.

Business Scheme of 4th MEDIA

Plala conducted trial network broadcasting service from August through October 2003, when the company had not decided whether to use IPv6 or not, says Satoshi Nakaoka, Service Planning Director at Plala Networks.

"You need a broadcasting license to conduct video distribution at 4Mbps or better over Internet," says Nakaoka. "Applicable law says it is necessary for the terminals used for broadcasting to get information of all channels, in general. Japanese Communication Ministry decided that it would recognize IP TV service as broadcasting as long as such information is delivered to every POP. In other words, multicast must be enabled to POP, not just to one node in every prefecture. That requires multicast support in regional IP infrastructure."

"We had two choices to do this: to multicast-enable existing infrastructure, or to build new infrastructure. Even if we were to build new infrastructure, we could use IPv4 or IPv6."

NTT East later began Flet's .Net, a commercial IPv6 connectivity service supporting IPv6 multicast. 4th MEDIA decided to use this. NTT West is also slated to offer IPv6 multicast-capable service by March next year, which enables 4th MEDIA to cover all regions of Japan.

Nakaoka says it is appropriate to use IPv6 for video broadcasting service like 4th MEDIA, citing two reasons: large address space and ease of device identification.

"When people accessed Internet through dialup connection, only about one out of ten subscribers was connected to Internet at any given time. Even now with PPPoE, the rate stays at about a half. But with a service like 4th MEDIA, people just don't switch the terminals off, making 100% of subscribers connected all the time. It is the same as giving every user a static address. The most serious concern we have is that IPv4 addresses get depleted as services like this get popular."

With IPv6, large address space enables easy allocation of static IP address without worrying about address exhaustion.

IPv6 gives each of these terminals a global address. A service operator can count exactly how many devices are connected. It can also use IP address as identification information.

Nakaoka adds, "With IPv4, we can conduct line-level or premise-level authentication, but it is more difficult to conduct authentication for multiple devices connected in one customer premise. With IPv6, each terminal has an IP address, enabling us to grasp which terminal is actually connected to see which contents. We can offer discount rate for second terminal at home, for example. Broadcasting service is based on per-terminal subscription, not per-premise subscription. We cannot allow users to connect multiple set top boxes with one contract with no surcharge. That's why terminal authentication is important, and we can do this only with IPv6.”


IP TV Leads to Optical Service

Plala enabled its customer ISPs to offer "Triple Play" service of Internet, IP phone and IP video, utilizing NTT East access infrastructure available to these ISPs. But the company also strongly recognizes its role as an NTT group company.

"NTT Group strategy is to spread optical services. Plala considers it our mission to help sell B Flet's optical access service. IP broadcasting is the first killer application to let our customers recognize the difference between ADSL and optical services," said Nakaoka.

Plala Networks started offering a large discount to new users contracting IP TV service and B Flet's at the same time. The campaign gives out the set top box which normally costs 26,250 yen (about 210 US dollars), while it waives initial charge for IP TV, B Flet's set up fee, and five months of Plala basic monthly charge.

"No service in telecommunication or TV was successful without giving users terminals for free at first," says Nakaoka. 4th MEDIA Service has to attract 200,000 subscribers in a year, requiring a drastic measure to achieve this goal. But Plala has no plan to offer a similar campaign for ADSL users.


IP Phone Will Surely be IPv6

Nakaoka says IP phone is another service that should be offered over IPv6. There is no definite plan at Plala to move its IP phone platform service to IPv6. But he says, "4th MEDIA set top box will have IP phone feature, which will be done by IPv6. For example, IPv6 does not need SIP REGISTER command required in IPv4. IP TV and IP phone are both closed services, unlike Internet service, requiring little consideration to other operators. In the future, IP phone service will surely move to IPv6."

"Growth of 4th MEDIA service means the growth of IPv6 users. Transition to IPv6 has to be promoted by new services other than existing Internet services. Such new services should be offered through optical, not ADSL, connection. It would be ideal if users end up using IPv6 before they know it, just by using optical service."