Who will be the content king?

Right now, all over the world, a battle is being fought. Everyone knows that we will soon be watching a significant amount of IPTV, but who will profit from this shift?

Existing TV companies have agreements in place with the content providers, but internet service providers have a strong relationship with the end user.

Is this going to be another battleground in need of some form of regulatory control? Some are already saying Foxtel is abusing market control by limiting its new download services to customers with a BigPond connection. It's a prime example of why the government wants to see Telstra relinquish its share of the Pay TV operator.

Even though the telecommunications sector is dominated by one major telco, at least it's a market open to new entrants. The wholesale content industry is dominated by the incumbent TV players operating in a highly regulated sector. They are leveraging this market power to build content agreements for off-air and online use. Their negotiations are skewed by their TV privileges. Isn't this an issue the ACCC needs to address?

Maybe it doesn't matter. Perhaps we will see local content rights slowly disappear and wholesale arrangements fall into the hands of global content aggregators — like Google, for example. If so, that can only be bad news for the TV companies. Is this the real future hope for the internet service provider?

• Robbee Minicola, CEO of Hybrid Television
• Matt Healey, chair of the Competitive Carriers Coalition
• Peter Cox, media analyst
• Michael Malone, CEO of iiNet

Running time: 27 minutes, 11 seconds