Telecoms firms looking to rollout profitable IPTV services face a "rough road ahead", an analyst warned today.

StrategyEye Digital Media analyst Aleksandra Bosnjak believes there are too many contractual relationships tying up opportunities for the telecoms companies.

"Instead of cashing a big pay cheque for premium content, efforts should be focused on innovative business models and content strategies," she said.

Bosnjak forecasts a future in which telecoms companies, already masters of closed networks, multicast and secure content distribution, embrace more open network strategies to increase their involvement with IPTV.

"In fact it is already happening, as we see some telco IPTV operators successfully running their own portals and, in some instances, using them to promote their IPTV paid services," she said.

Improved relationships and partnerships with vendors will be crucial over the short term, according to the analyst.

However, until IPTV becomes a mass-market product and standards are introduced, end-to-end solution integration will be one of the biggest challenges for operators.

Bosnjak believes that no winning business model has yet emerged, and that players are trying as many combinations and business models as possible to see what 'sticks'.

• StrategyEye report: IPTV Five Year Roadmap