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7. Minutes
16:00
Beginning of the BRT, introduction and welcome by Stanislav Miler
Presentations
16:10
Eva Hillerova – EC programs
Eva Hillerova presented the 6th Framework program; she talked about the possibilities of international cooperation, priorities and structure of FP6 and the IST program, and possibilities of participating in the EU funded projects.
16:30
Vojtech Foukal - Waiting for customers or services?
Current situation in Broadband Internet content and streaming technologies, new challenges, multi platform delivery, need for cooperation between the software and hardware vendors and content and service providers, in home - interconnected households, need for new technologies for digital right management.
What can be done in the Czech Republic to bring broadband content? There has to be someone who would offer some interesting services and broadband content.
16:55
Zdenek Strihavka - iTV and Video on Demand - Technologies and Services
1st commercial application for VOD in Orlando, Need of market convergence,
it is not technology issue. It is primarily about new ways of doing business, new ways of business thinking.
2M users a month, average price for EU citizens is 31 Euro a month for broadband Internet access.
Bandwidth for delivery, VOD system overview, broadband services – Broadcast to all, Internet services, Direct to one, Value added services, Broadband Entertainment – PC centric, TV Centric, Strategic VOD projects, Emerging requirements.
17:15
Peter Hegyi – Broadband Interactive Entertainment
Why online gaming?, types of interactive games, past and present revenues from interactive entertainment, revenue model use in multi user online games, mass market online entertainment, successful mass market game portals, producers of online games, examples of successful online games, possibilities for interactive games in Czech market.
17:35
Peter Stadlmann – PROXITV – IST project for interactive TV
Why is not video on Internet so successful as it should be, Video quality, net quality, situation in Austria for offering broadband service, why to use standard ADSL account, content delivery network.
Video search, content protection – conditional access, digital rights management, examples of Jet2web.tv service, project partners, standard delivery process, feedback form the users, subscription model.
Panel Discussion
Panel discussion was moderated by Stanislav Kuzel, Network computing magazine
Participants of the Panel Discussion:
Frantisek Brtna – Imaginet / Czech Telecom
Peter Hegyi -iCube Studio
Patrik Zandl - journalist, Cinetic
Zdenek Strihavka - Silicon Graphics
Tomas Petru – Visual Connection
Vojtech Foukal – Microsoft CR
18:25
Stanislav Miler - Introduction of participants
18:30
Stanisalv Kuzel - Would you be interested to watch news on your mobile phone?
18:31
Patrick Zandl - I think phones should be used for phoning, the quality is very low, there is no need to see the real-time video in the mobile phones.
18:36
Frantisek Brtna - For those who have access to content the mobile device is just another channel, for broadband content we need broadband connection.
18:38
Peter Hegyi - Very important is usability issue, if there is no technology it is difficult to offer broadband services and content.
18:40
Stanislav Kuzel - I remember that the Czech mobile operator Peagas was nominated as the most innovative mobile operator. Why was that? What was so innovative?
18:41
Tomas Petru – I am not so pessimistic with the use of mobile devices for the video, but I agree it has to be simple for the user, there is no need to have the same content as on TV, there are 2 successful services in broadband content, one is erotic service and the other is Real network which has more than 1 million users who use the VOD services.
We are managing the Internet broadcasting for Czech TV and since the war started there were more than 10000 downloads of the news in last 5 hours, it is about to have the right technology in the right place.
18:45
Stanislav Kuzel - What is the situation in ADSL in the Czech Republic?
18:46
Frantisek Brtna - Imaginet plays the same role as other Internet service provider in the Czech Republic and has the same conditions to offer the ADSL service. Last year, there was a different situation. The ADSL service was offered only by our company and the service was stopped by the regulator after 28 days. Regarding the prices if they are high or low. If we look back what were the prices when the operators in EU started the ADSL service, the prices were much higher than today. The question is what has to be the first – connectivity, content, services or customers; we have to look at it together.
18:50
Stanislav Kuzel - During the presentations, we have seen that the average customer in EU countries is willing to pay max 31 Euros.
18:51
Frantisek Brtna - If we meet here in one or two years, the price will be completely different.
18:52
Stanislav Kuzel - Can the different ISP offer different broadband services?
18:52
Patrik Zandl - Today it is not possible to offer different services, the conditions are the same for all ISP. We can see small differences such as Nextra waving the activation fees. There is a very little overhead from the wholesale price so there is not big space to offer different services.
18:53
Stanislav Kuzel - What new business possibilities do you see in the broadband internet?
18:53
Peter Hegyi - Since we are the content creators I see a very big business possibilities in the broadband Internet. Unfortunately I come from Slovak Republic which is the only country in the CEE countries which still does not offer the broadband Internet services. None of the broadband application can make any profit. There is a big possibility to produce the content.
18:54
Tomas Petru - It is about entertainment and it is happening at home and for 1000 CZK / 30 Euro, it will be possible to bring the broadband content to the homes. I am not willing anymore to use slow modems at home. Ill not only look at Prague, but I think that sooner or later the broadband internet will enter to homes in other parts of Czech Republic.
18:56
Stanislav Kuzel - Do you think that home sector will be able to finance broadband content and technology development?
18:57
Tomas Petru - If you look at Microsoft, it is completely focused on home users. If you looked at MP3, if anybody comes with a business model how to get small money it will be better business than to sell CDs. I hope that there will be some changes. If you look at the technology development, it took almost 20 years to deploy VHS, 5 years for DVD and less than 2 years for 80 % penetration on mobile phones in the Czech Republic. So I am not too pessimistic.
19:00
Patrik Zandl – I am a bit more pessimistic, but in the long terms it will be this way. If you look at situation of home users, that for 1500 CZK (50 Euro), home users will get only 192 Kb/s connection, it is not broadband but broad price connection, where you can not do any streaming. And that they will have to pay more money for the content. You have bought interactive entertainment and you end up at price around 2500 CZK (80 Euro). And if you compare it with the situation when the price for the public TV broadcasting service is raised from 70 to 100 CZK (3 Euro).The first and the baggiest obstacle is the price. Most people will rather go to a VHS rental and they will have better quality for less money. There has to be logical arguments why the users should invest the money. It would take 10 years for the mass users.
19:05
Peter Hegyi - Internet is paid by home users and it will be probably the same in the case off broadband Internet. In USA, there is very popular TiVO where you can upload programs on the hard disk.
19:07
Stanislav Kuzel – I would like to thank you for your participation and presentation of your opinions and views. | 
