There are some major changes happening in the world of TV service providers. Telephone companies, the world over, are heavily investing into providing TV service via broadband Internet connections, the new service technology is called IPTV. Over time, the Cable companies will have some stiff competition to their service offering. With telephone company provided DSL broadband being the most affordable broadband Internet solution, the telephone companies already have an “in” to many homeholds.

IPTV promises all the same functionality you get with a Cable company; plus the capability of adding interactivity later on. As bandwidth increases, so will features. "On Demand" video, which is already offered by many cable providers, will of course be an option. The great thing about "On Demand" is that you can watch any program (most likely movies) with the ability to pause, rewind, and fast-forward. Other IPTV functions such as Interactive TV options and the like a sure to be added as the IPTV rollout gains market share.

Cable's Bandwidth Issue and HDTV
The problem Cable TV providers are facing is bandwidth. HDTV channels take up a huge amount of bandwidth, and since there's only a certain amount of bandwidth, Cable companies will face expandability issues.  IPTV faces infrastructure bandwidth issues as well, but since the telephone companies are building a completely new infrastructure, their new system is expandable while Cable companies will have to lay entirely new cable to get their bandwidth increased.

For those not interested in HDTV this is not an issue, as Cable, Satellite, and IPTV providers will do standard-definition feeds with no problem. It’s when you add HDTV in the mix that bandwidth becomes a major concern for all TV providers.

The makor downside is that all of these providers can really only fit one HD feed per home without hitting a bandwidth ceiling.

HDTV Feeds
While most homes will only need one HD feed, as consumer's other TVs get older, and HDTV prices continue to plummet, the likelihood of replacing standard-definition TVs in other rooms with HDTV’s is high. In fact, I recently replaced my standard-definition living room TV with an HDTV.

The living room TV is used for more casual TV viewing, but with the need to replace the entertainment center housing the TV, getting a new piece of AV furniture that doesn't have the capability of holding an HDTV seemed like a waste. Not to mention I want to enjoy movies with a progressive-scan DVD player and HD content in that room too.

For me, the need for more than one HD feed is an issue I face today, and many other early adopters may be in the same boat as I am wherein the current set of offerings simply aren’t good enough when it comes to providing multiple HD feeds.

No Cause for Concern
To me this extra HD feed was no cause for concern. My greatest worry was ensuring I got and excellent HDTV with built HDTV tuner. I simply ran another line to the living room and viola… HDTV programming came to my living room. I can also expand multiple HD feeds to any room in the house, the garage, outside, or wherever I desire, as long as I’m willing to do the work to run the cable.

While Cable, Satellite, and IPTV providers are struggling to provide one HD feed to a house, I can easily have more than 10 HDTVs connected with each HDTV able to view different channels without even thinking about bandwidth issues.

This miraculous HDTV provider comes free, but is often overlooked by consumers as a viable option. The service is the same over-the-air system that has run the last 70+ years. All I needed to receive free over-the-air HD signals was an antenna.

70+ year Old System Trumps New Technology
It says a lot that a "modified" system that has essentially been in place for over 70 years, and is not digital, is besting the capabilities of the latest and greatest digital TV providers when it comes to providing HD broadcasting.

Granted by using only over-the-air HD I don’t have access to HD movie channels, ESPN, Discovery, TLC, TNT, and the sport HD packages like NFL Sunday Ticket on DirectTV. What I do get is 80% of the programming I actually watch in HD.  Whenever I want the other stuff I can simply get an HD DirecTV satellite to add the other HD items to my DirectTV setup.

Thus far, the cost of the extra equipment and the extra monthly service change hasn’t warranted to what ends up being about 3-4 extra HD channels that I currently don’t have. I’ll keep my standard-definition DirecTV service for now.

Over-the-air broadcasts also show better quality HD since the bandwidth is there. Also, when a station adds extra sub-channels such as NBC-2 and NBC-3, people with over-the-air HD receive those channels instantly with no wait on the service provider’s decision on whether to offer those new channels.

Bandwidth Expandability
IPTV can only provide HD by utilizing the latest compression codecs to cram HD over their pipes, and the same goes for Cable. Among the TV providers the worst off in getting more bandwidth is Cable TV providers. IPTV is in the best shape overall as their system is stated to be expandable to 10-15 times it current capacity. Satellite is said to be expandable as well.

Rest assured, all these companies have a lot of money to throw at the problem and they will research every technological aspect and trick to get greater services demanded by consumers, or they run the risk of severe loss of business.

Summary
If you want multiple TVs with HDTV the only game in town is over-the-air HDTV via an antenna. Consumers will just have to wait for the major TV providers with the latest digital technology to catch up to a system that’s been around since essentially since the late 1920s.

I’ll give one concession though. Over-the-air HD broadcast technology has been refined since the 70s and has been commercially viable since the early 80s in Japan. It just took until the late 90s for America to implement the technology and begin its switch to HD.

All other providers are relatively new to adding HD programming and developing their technology to do so. Thus, TV providers will have to overcome some technological hurdles or wait for other technological improvements to be invented.