In the last few years, the television-watching public has produced a tectonic shift in viewing habits, especially in Canada. The advent of Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) has prompted many viewers to seek out inventive means of watching their beloved programs without the standard cable package. Indian IPTV—they’re doing it too—is not just a fashionable statement, but manifests a serious, albeit seemingly harmless, change in how viewers presumably engage with media. With IP-based systems, viewers now are said to be better engaged, with way more options at their disposal, and are purported to be living a pretty “enhanced” life.
Television programming delivered through the internet is called IPTV. Compared to traditional delivery formats like satellite and cable, using the internet to deliver a customizable television experience has really struck a chord with viewers in Canada. Not only is IPTV able to deliver content that many modern-day viewers want to see, but it also allows them to pay much less for it. On the internet, the viewers have content at their command; they can pretty much find any sort of programming they want, whether it happens to be “local,” “regional,” or “international.” And even though those kinds of services are available, to many it seems a lot cheaper (and a lot more fun) than buying a basic digital cable package with only 25 channels.
The enhanced viewing experience is perhaps the most outstanding advantage of Canadian IPTV. Most IPTV providers use cutting-edge technology to deliver content in stunning high definition. Because the content is not packaged and sent over an old system of coaxial cable but rather delivered in “packets” along the internet pathway, there is no way for it to arrive at its destination in anything other than perfect order. This is really important in an era when there is only one way to deliver a good customer experience, and that is to always have the content that is requested arrive in an almost magical way. IPTV also serves up to all of the devices that a person can possibly own—there are no limits. In addition to perfect content delivery, IPTV allows the viewer to experience the content in a way that is pretty much just fantasy for those watching through the old cable pipe.
The way Canadians access content is changing, and it’s for the better. At the center of this change are Canadian IPTV services, an increasingly popular way to watch television that is still in its nascent stage compared to other parts of the world. But what is IPTV? Short for Internet Protocol television, it essentially brings TV channels and on-demand video to viewers over an internet connection. It’s a service that works quite well for many Canadians. It allows them to watch channels and shows in a way that’s largely identical to how previous generations consumed the medium, but with clever added features actualizing the promise of a 21st-century-viewing experience.
The potential payoffs from Canadian IPTV are unambiguous, but problematical aspects should be taken into account. Internet access can be a stumbling block, especially in rural areas where the infrastructure does not support high-speed internet, which is a necessity for happy IPTV users. In either urban or rural situations, we’re talking about a somewhat ironclad bandwidth scenario in which the user requires a minimum of 8 to 10 Mbps for trouble-free viewing—16 to 20 Mbps if you want to be really, well, safe. But this isn’t the whole rural reliability story. In parts of the countryside with no access to wired internet, the user is limited to either satellite or 4G LTE service, the latter of which cannot be guaranteed to provide the needed bandwidth 100% of the time either.
Without a doubt, Canadian IPTV is shaking things up for people who have cut the cord. It’s smarter. It’s more flexible, and it has a way of delivering television content that feels a lot less like the “old” television. For people who have left the traditional cable bundle behind, Canadian IPTV feels like a “new” alternative, or at least, an alternative “new” enough that we can place Canadian IPTV—along with its other several and varied “new” alternatives—in the “streaming” category of television viewing. However, in this genre, IPTV at least has…