This tutorial describes the evolution and technologies involved in broadband media services delivery. A brief history tracing the evolution of broadband media services will be presented, along with descriptions of multimedia standards, potential services, and the roles of the various entities involved in creating broadband media services–network providers, content providers, services providers, and businesses and consumers. After working through the tutorial, participants will have a general understanding of the scope, technology, and benefits of broadband media services.

Broadband and bandwidth
"Broadband" refers to a type of network connection that supports a very high bit rate, as opposed to "narrowband," which supports a lower bit rate. The higher the bit rate, which is a measure of speed of transmission of bits per second (bps), the faster the transmission will occur in a given period of time. "Bandwidth" is a measure of capacity. Greater bandwidth allows more information to be communicated in a given period of time. Broadband media services delivery requires transmitting large amounts of information quickly, so the combination of fast broadband transmissions and large amounts of bandwidth required to deliver information are the foundation of broadband media services delivery. But this is just the beginning of the broadband media services story, because the true value of broadband media services lies in the actual services that can be delivered across these high-speed, high-bandwidth networks, the entirely new "on demand" way customers will access them and the customized and personalized ways that individuals will interact with these services. With that in mind, we can formulate a definition of broadband media services:

Broadband media services is the seamless, customized, "on demand" creation and delivery of multimedia services to homes, businesses, and mobile users, including entertainment services (movies, interactive games, broadcast TV), infotainment (e-learning, online training) through high-speed Internet protocol (IP) networks.

Beyond fast Internet access
"Broadband media" is sometimes called "streaming media" because the services, or "content," that is delivered via broadband networks is digitized, and received by users of the content in continuous real-time "streams." Broadband content is digitized and accessed utilizing IP, the standard protocol used for Internet access today. In fact, high-speed IP access through digital subscriber lines (DSL) that utilize existing voice lines for high-speed transmissions, is the foundation of the broadband media services network, and DSL is available in many parts of the world today. DSL is a group of increasingly high-speed technologies that enables fast Internet access in homes and businesses. DSL "always on" connections will also form the basis of the sophisticated broadband media services networks of tomorrow.

Fast Internet access barely scratches the surface of the powers of broadband, DSL, and IP technology, which, combined in broadband media services, will connect people and businesses around the world like never before. Broadband media services will put the consumer in total control by enabling personal, custom, on-demand viewing of entertainment, e-learning, video games, and other types of content. Individuals will choose what they want to hear, see, or be entertained by on their own, and people will no longer have to plan around preconceived broadcast schedules for home entertainment. Eventually, we will decide our own schedules for much of our entertainment. Furthermore, broadband media services will allow individuals to easily create their own content, personalize it, and distribute it for viewing on TVs, PCs, remote laptops, and mobile phones and other wireless devices around the world, instantly.

Broadband media services provides endless possibilities for consumers to choose and personalize their entertainment and infotainment. Broadband media services will also create new revenue streams for operators, media companies, and service providers through enhanced usage of existing networks, branded media portals, interactive "one-to-one" advertising and endless e-commerce possibilities. The proliferation of high-speed broadband IP access and broadband media services will require content creators to distribute large amounts of rich media to a global audience of high-speed users with increasingly greater demand for access to specific services. The challenges for broadband media development include understanding true consumer wants and needs for services and perfecting the technology standards behind the high data rates and significant bandwidth required for seamless delivery of high-quality multimedia services.