Verizon

Ex-Bellhead Craddock to retire from Comcast

Dan O'Shea — Tue, 20 May 2008 11:24:08 -0400

Steve Craddock, senior vice president of new technology at cable TV giant Comcast, is set to retire on June 30. Confirmation of his retirement came during the industry's annual convention, The Cable Show, in New Orleans. Craddock was already a veteran Bell system technologist when he left Bell Atlantic (now known, multiple mergers later, as Verizon Communications) in 1994, just as the cable TV industry was beginning its broadband adventure and the traditional telco industry was experiencing its first delays in rolling out DSL. At Comcast, Craddock led the company's efforts in the cable modem business as Comcast and the cable TV industry jumped out to a huge lead in setting up customers with high-speed Internet connections. Back in the 1990s, it looked as if his departure from Bell Atlantic could be part of a trend of established telco technologists moving to cable. That trend may never have developed as fully as expected, but the cable modem express rolls on--Comcast now is preparing for the latest cable modem evolution with DOCSIS 3.0.

For more:
- read this report at Multichannel News

Related articles:
- Steve Craddock was talking about Comcast's eventual move to DOCSIS 3.0 this time last year. Steve Craddock report

Verizon in no rush to change from RF to IPTV

Dan O'Shea — Tue, 20 May 2008 11:56:23 -0400

Verizon Communications often gets lumped in with the IPTV crowd (especially by me. I'll admit) even though the technology it uses to deliver TV services is actually a cable TV-like RF broadcast overlay. I sometimes have made mention of the distinction, but other times have used IPTV as a catch-all term to describe Verizon and other companies, when what I really meant was "telco TV." In some way, I was going by the old adage that the technology type does not matter to the customer. But, of course, it does matter in this venue, so I'm turning over a new leaf and will be careful not to describe Verizon as an IPTV service provider.

I mention all of this because Verizon is saying it intends to stick with RFTV for now, and is in no hurry to make a transition to IPTV. Proponents of IPTV always have touted greater interactive capabilities and superior bandwidth as the benefits of IP over RF architectures, but as the leading "telco TV" player, Verizon does not appear to be hurting for either. For more, see this story at Light Reading

What's next for IPTV? You tell us

Tue, 13 May 2008 06:59:55 -0400

I've been manning the helm at FierceIPTV for almost a month now, and the vast majority of reports I've been seeing and discussions I've been party to have had to do with subscriber numbers. This especially has been this case in the last couple of weeks, as telcos from around the world have been reporting first quarter earnings. Because IPTV is still in its young, growth-spurt phase, telcos have been happy to share IPTV subscriber growth figures, and highlight these numbers in their quarterly reports. Certainly, we'll see more of the same when second quarter earnings reports are filed this summer.

But, while subscriber growth is exciting and likely will continue to fuel a good portion of our content, it is time to take a broader, deeper look at IPTV trends and technologies. Here's a few things I'm keeping my eye on right now:

Back office and IMS integration of IPTV silos: As telcos have been focused on initial IPTV service launches and marketing campaigns, how well have the new services been integrated into existing OSS structures? If those same telcos are pursuing IP Multimedia Subsystem projects, have IPTV offering been considered as part of the IMS plan? I'm betting the answer is "no" in both cases.
IPTV pricing: Prices for Verizon Communications' FiOS TV service increased during 2007. Cable TV prices continue to increase, so maybe IPTV players can just continue to roll along; but could price hikes hurt IPTV adoption going forward, especially if telcos also are looking to charge customers extra for things like HD DVR services?
IPTV integration with online video: These two sectors still seem like strange bedfellows to me, but new companies like Sezmi are looking to help telcos make sense of the online video boom by integrating online video capabilities with their IPTV services.

What do you think about each of these areas and where they are headed? As we look to dig deeper into the IPTV sector, what are some trends and technologies you think we should be watching closely? Please post a comment and let us know.

- Dan

Networks ready for HD programming pile-up?

Tue, 13 May 2008 06:59:50 -0400

High-definition television always has been viewed as a nice benefit of new TV delivery technologies, but 2008 may prove to be the year HDTV becomes a significant battlefield in the competitive war between telco IPTV players and their cable TV foes. The race to supply consumers with the most HDTV channels and hours of on-demand HD programming may have been sparked by Verizon Communications, which announced late last year it would deliver 150 linear HDTV channels by the end of this year. However, Verizon may have been responding to more subtle HTDV upticks from cable TV and satellite TV firms.

While providers continue to pile on the HD channels and programming hours, it is worth wondering how an abundance of HDTV could affect network bandwidth and provider set-top box offerings. With its FiOS network, Verizon claims to be built for high volumes of HD programming, though it also primarily has MPEG-2 set-top boxes in circulation, much less efficient than MPEG-4 boxes at handling that programming. Cable TV companies are in the midst of rolling out network upgrades to better support growing HD traffic, and the analog-to-digital transition will help.

For more:
- read this report at Multichannel News

Related articles:
- Verizon Communications announced its 2008 HDTV plans late last year. Verizon report
- Fewer Channels better quality. HDTV quality report

Cablevision adds video subs, strikes Newsday deal

Tue, 13 May 2008 06:59:40 -0400

While some cable TV companies are taking an obvious hit from telco IPTV competition (see Comcast), others may not be seeing much of an impact. Cablevision Systems last week said it added 41,000 digital-video subscribers and 2,000 basic-video customers to its current 3.1 million video subscribers during the first quarter of this year, adding that it has seen little impact from Verizon Communications' FiOS service. The company also has moved aggressively into Verizon's traditional segments with its Optimum Lightpath data and voice services. In addition, the company said it will spend more than $300 million on rolling out Wi-Fi technology in the New York metro area and on Long Island over the next two years.

This week, Cablevision made another intriguing, though somewhat puzzling move, saying it will pay $650 million to acquire most of suburban newspaper Newsday. Arguably, Newsday could help Cablevision competitively by giving it more promotional heft for its offerings against whatever marketing blitz competitor Verizon may muster. It could also create cross-selling opportunities for advertisers that might be thinking of moving more money over to IPTV platforms. Still, newspapers as medium are weakening by the hour, so the benefits could be short-term at best.

For more:
- See this story about earnings and another about the Newsday deal at The Wall Street Journal
- and Cablevision's quarterly results

Related articles:
- Cablevision's Newsday deal seems unlikely to start a trend. Cablevision report
- Cablevision to rollout WiFi network. Cablevision WiFi report

Verizon posts 263K TV customer boost

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:59:50 -0400

Verizon Communications this week reported a 9.8% increase in profit for the first quarter of 2008. Verizon said net income totaled $1.64 billion, with revenue rising about 5.5%. Much of the growth came from Verizon Wireless, but Verizon FiOS TV service continue to be secondary source of strength. The telco reported that FiOS TV subscribers increased by 263,000 FiOS TV customers during the quarter, giving a total of about 1.2 million TV customers.

AT&T last week reported it had gained about 148,000 U-verse TV customers, so the two largest telcos won over more than 400,000 TV customers in the first three months of this year. That can't be good news for a cable TV industry that has been knocked around competitively by AT&T and Verizon since last year.

For more:
- see this story at The Wall Street Journal
- and this blog post at ZDNet.com

Related articles:
AT&T last week reported 148,000 new IPTV customers. AT&T report
Verizon hits 1 million FiOS subscriber mark Verizon report

Synergy sees IPTV gear spending up 47%

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:59:20 -0400

Synergy Research Group reported that sales of IPTV equipment worldwide rose about 47% during 2007. SRG said that Cisco Systems was the chief beneficiary of that spending, receiving about 59% of all IPTV-related carrier capital spending globally. Alcatel-Lucent received about 13% and Motorola about 11%. With carriers like Verizon Communications, AT&T, TeliaSonera and others still adding hundreds of thousands of new IPTV subscribers every quarter, market confidence is increasing and carriers continue to buy more gear to continue rapid expansion.

For more:
- read this report at IPTV News

Related articles:
IPTV households worldwide number 14 million IPTV report
U.S. IPTV market to grow to $14 billion by 2012 Report
Euro IPTV growth driven by local loop access Report
Top European IPTV drivers Report

AT&T adds 148,000 U-verse TV customers

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 06:59:50 -0400

AT&T said in its first-quarter earnings report today that it gained about 148,000 U-verse TV subscribers during the quarter, bringing its total IPTV service tally to about 379,000. Though Verizon Communications continues to set the high mark for U.S. telcos, with more than 1 million FiOS TV customers, AT&T is posting strong growth quarter by quarter as it puts some early growing pains in the past. The telco said it is on track to obtain 1 million U-verse TV customers by the end of this year. If you add satellite TV customers into the mix, AT&T now serves about 2.6 million TV customers total.

Yet, success in this new business arena and in wireless are not allowing AT&T to skate through the otherwise unstable landline telecom sector. The company last week said it would lay off more than 4,600 employees, though it still intends to keep hiring for jobs specific to growth areas such as TV and wireless. Many industry watchers are predicting other telcos will make similar cuts this year as they try to focus on what will be the core telco businesses of the future.

For more:
- see this AT&T press release

Related articles:
- AT&T recently rolled out U-verse TV in Chicago. AT&T report
- Verizon recently reported that FiOS TV had reached 1 million homes. Verizon report

Mobile TV still not fulfilling its potential

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 06:59:20 -0400

Mobile TV continues to be a source of excitement for the mobile industry, but the recent Mobile TV World Summit in London was a venue at which some firms involved in the mobile TV ecosystem vented their concerns about the success of the service thus far, according to Digital Broadcast.

This is not an IPTV issue, strictly speaking, but since mobile TV is one aspect of any major telco's push into the TV realm, it may offer some valuable lessons. One of those lessons, according to some of the London event, is that service providers need to simplify packaging and pricing of mobile TV. At least one speaker urged service providers to include mobile TV in flat-rate service plans, rather than charging an additional fee of up to $15 for the service (If you are a Verizon Wireless customer, you recognize that price tag).

For more:
- read this Digital Broadcast story at itp.net

Related article:
- Mobile TV progress was seen in Brazil late last year. Mobile TV report
- Spending on mobile TV to rocket Mobile TV spending report

Verizon: High-tech households driving GPON

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 06:59:10 -0400

Michael Daigle, vice president of network planning at Verizon Communications, sees the multi-user, multi-device home as the major driver for the telco's ongoing deployment of gigabit passive optical networking technology. Verizon now has GPON in about 40 of its 600 central offices, and while the 2.4 Gbps bandwidth is not needed everywhere, the pattern for demand has a lot to do with those larger, high-tech-heavy households, Daigle told Light Reading.

Verizon likely will be increasing its GPON footprint throughout this year as central offices currently supported by broadband PON get converted to GPON. It is not clear how many actual FiOS customers are now served by GPON. Beyond GPON, Verizon is eyeing the possible evolution to WDM-PON, though that could be at least two years away, and Verizon official say the technology and its advantages need to mature further before a commitment is made.

For more:
- see this report at Light Reading

Related articles:
- GPON drove Ericsson's acquisition of Entrisphere late last year. GPON report
- Tellabs GPON move leads to more questions Tellabs report