The Open IPTV Forum aims to "specify a common and open end-to-end platform" for supplying IPTV and multimedia services to a range of devices in the home. It aims to define requirements and architecture specifications by September and issue the first release of protocol specifications by December.

Microsoft already has its own IPTV platform, the creatively named Microsoft TV IPTV Edition, and has won several contracts to deploy it - including with Open IPTV Forum members AT&T and Telecom Italia. Siemens and Alcatel-Lucent are amongst those offering rival IPTV platforms.

Everyone knows the phrase "open standard" doesn't sit well with Microsoft - it would rather attempt to have its own formats adopted as the standard rather than work with the wider the community. It will even go as far as tagging the word "open" on the front of such a format - as with its Open XML document format - to create the impression of openness.  

The saga of Microsoft's Open XML versus the open source community's Open Document Format may give us a taste of what's to come for IPTV. There is a global backlash against de facto standards, such as Microsoft's Office formats, by governments and large corporations which fear a reliance on one vendor and format. As such standards bodies have become the new weapon in format wars as each side attempts to claim legitimacy through acknowledgement as a standard.

What will make this format war particularly interesting is that fact Sony is already onboard the Open IPTV Forum. No one fights a format war like Sony - just look at the way it's trash talking HD DVD and plasma TV at the moment as its pushes Blu-ray and LCD TVs. One of the best tricks from the Sony playbook is to continually insist it's won the war before the fighting even gets underway. Toshiba has finally had enough of Sony's tactics and started fighting back in the Blu-ray versus HD DVD war.

Based on current form, expect Microsoft to rename its platform "Microsoft TV Open IPTV Edition" and to hit standards bodies campaign trail. The next day, expect Sony to announce "Microsoft TV Open IPTV Edition" is already dead and then repeat the claim ad nauseum until people start to believe it. Another day, another format war.{moscomment}