I have always been puzzled why IPTV (that is TV coming through a data pipe) has not catched on faster. It has so many advantages - simple to deliver and very good in tracking viewers. However very few content providers have chosen to serve their free content through digital networks. Just check one of the most prominent - Akimbo.

But thanks to Martino I finally got a better picture what is hindering so many content providers to jump on the train.

"Yesterday, I drove up to the NCTA in San Francisco to see how vendors are positioning themselves in television this year. As you might expect, IPTV-oriented companies are better represented. I also noted that the larger VOD systems providers are articulating their products better.

What particularly struck me was the lack of understanding of how advertising was going to play into the mix. I honestly don't think the telecoms have even thought about this.

Today's linear television advertising market in the United States is $56 billion dollars. That is the money advertisers spent buying commercials on broadcast, cable networks, local television stations, and local cable in 2004. This huge pot of gold sustains many businesses in the television food chain -- including those companies that create the television shows that (hopefully) viewers tune in to see.

In order to make that ad market work, there are very specific systems and institutions in place. For instance, there are agency planning tools, buyer-side proposal systems, ratings providers, rep firms, media sales automation tools, inventory analysis, national sales offices, traffic & billing applications, spot distribution, etc.

I have yet to find anyone in the IPTV marketplace that is aware of these requirements. In the VOD system providers, there is a little more awareness that these systems and institutions exist, but no planning of how to integrate to them. If I had to guess, it appears that each company is so busy trying to justify the core value of their technologies that advertising is defined as a requirement outside their system and one that the advertisers somehow will deal with."