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The paper presents an admission approach for IPTV service providers that is designed to minimize QoS violations whilst effectively utilizing available bandwidth. Central to the approach is an empirical method of estimating the effective bandwidth required to satisfy QoS targets for admitted traffic flows. The paper describes this method and specifies two admission control algorithms based on the use of effective bandwidth estimates. The first algorithm employs a simple evaluation of whether there is sufficient bandwidth available to ensure, with an appropriate degree of confidence, that QoS targets will not be violated if a requested flow is admitted. The second algorithm utilizes information relating to the cost, duration and request frequency of specific IPTV content to prioritize higher revenue flows within the admission control process. Results of a simulation study (employing real traffic traces of long-lived flows) indicate that the proposed algorithms ensure that an adequate, but not overly generous, amount of bandwidth is allocated to ensure that QoS targets for accepted flows are met. Furthermore, they demonstrate the potential advantage of using content specific information in the admission control process to maximize generated revenue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]