TelcoTV

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

TMG sees 60 million IPTV subs by 2010

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 06:59:30 -0400

Telecommunications Management Network Group put out the a market study showing that there were about 9.9 million IPTV subscribers worldwide at the end of 2007. But, the truly explosive growth is about to happen, according to TMG. The agency is forecasting 500 percent growth over the next two years, allowing worldwide IPTV subscribers to reach 60 million in 2010. There have been several recent IPTV market research reports, and everyone is putting out somewhat different numbers. For example, Parks Associates recently said current sign-ups worldwide are closer to 14 million. Place your bets.

For more:
- check out this coverage at IPTV News

Related articles:
- Parks Associates just tallied about 14 million IPTV subscribers. Parks Associates report
- Global IPTV market leaders. IPTV report

Telcos to change from gorillas to guerrillas

Tom Burton — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 06:59:50 -0500

IPTV will fundamentally change telco's operational structure and create micro-markets of intense local competition according to a new report by the Yankee Group titled From Gorillas to Guerrillas: IPTV changes Everything. It predicts that by 2011 the IPTV market will have 9.83 million homes, with Verizon accounting for 4.7 million and AT&T for 3.9 million. Yankee estimates a total pay-TV market in the U.S. of 102 million by 2011, giving IPTV a 9.6 percent nationwide penetration.

But Yankee argues because IPTV can determine to which markets it deploys, this average misrepresents the true market impact. The impact is far more dramatic if a more appropriate denominator is used and Yankee predicts an IPTV share of 29 percent in markets where the service is rolled out. None of these will be green field markets and many will be cable's best markets. The prediction is for "bloody street-level market-share fights with IPTV providers." These providers will also be able to exploit the flexibility and power of IP-based video to create a powerful set of differentiated applications around the video stream.

"IPTV will forever alter the video ecosystem by creating not only a new breed of service, but also a new breed of service provider," says the report. "This transition fundamentally changes the market dynamic for all service providers, forcing them to to convert from centralized dominating gorillas to small responsive guerrillas." Telcos will change first followed by the cable MSO's which are predicted to be in a perpetual defensive position.

To get the creative differentiation required, all parties will need to move to an open application paradigm, again radically changing the ponderous development culture all the big providers have inherited.

For more :
Yankee Report: From Gorillas to Guerrillas IPTV changes everything

Related articles:
Apple seeks control of the video home Article
Lounge room wars Article

Community web TV comes to U.S.

Tom Burton — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 06:59:10 -0500

Trying to tell Americans how to do TV might seem like taking coals to Newscastle but that is what U.K.-based WebsEdge is trying to do with web channels built around municipal and interest communities. With a number of global channels and several local U.K. channels already operating, WebsEdge was in Washington, D.C. last week looking to set up a U.S. beachhead.

According to CEO Stephen Horn, the web provides an ideal opportunity for municipal governments to communicate with their residents providing that content is relevant to community needs. He says this is very different to traditional broadcast video and often involves having to cover complex issues using experts to communicate to citizens about issues challenging the community.

According to Horn, businesses are noticing the growth in user-generated content and a greater number of organizations will use IPTV to communicate with their stakeholders. In light of the growing demand of IPTV for business use, there will be a steep increase in Professionally Generated Content (PGC), content generated by professionals, organizations, communities and companies. Which, of course, is where WebsEdge steps in.

Horn, a former BBC journalist, also believes advertising will not sustain IPTV because the numbers are not big enough to attract audiences that advertisers will care for. "Right now the business model just isn't there. Too many people are relying on advertising income or worse still have no real idea where the income is going to come from. And until we figure that out this surge forward in our industry just won't be sustained."

For More:
- US IPTV milestones for 2008 Report
- About WebsEdge site

Related articles:
IPTV solution used to train Portland's fire fighters Release
Internet video: Threat or opportunity Release

Lounge room war erupts

Tom Burton — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 06:59:50 -0500

The battle for control of the lounge room has finally begun with Microsoft releasing at CES2008 its impressive IPTV service embedded in its game console Xbox 360 powered by its Mediaroom software. The first market for release is set to be England after Microsoft struck a deal with BT Vision to use the game console as its principle in room device.

Showing just how seriously Microsoft is seeking dominance in the TV space, the software giant also announced its DVR Anywhere product, which enables the Mediaroom program to stream content to different set-top boxes around the house. The application allows a show to be paused and resumed in another room and centralizes content storage, giving each box the same access to all shows.

Connecting the world's TVs to the Internet remains the one great unconquered frontier with vendors desperate to be the device of choice as an expected 160 million TVs connect up to the Internet over the next four years. The battle for the lounge room is predicted to be played out between the CE set top box vendors, the game console manufacturers and the media PC players, with the game console sector likely to dominate because of the bundling of a gaming platform and IPTV functionality and the already embedded consumer base.

Microsoft announced its Xbox/IPTV integration this time last year and was pipped by Sony in October when Sony deployed its PlayStation console with an IPTV interface in South Korea, for the local incumbent telco's high definition service, called Mega TV.

Microsoft is playing in all three platforms with its Mediaroom software and with TV manufacturers finally equipping TV's with an internet port the race is now on between for who will become the device of choice. Apple's iPod juggernaut is a reminder how possible it is to dominate delivery of a media, once consumers get an easy to use device they like.

For more
- Microsoft and BT to deploy Xbox 360 IPTV service Release
- British Telecom gets first dibs on Xbox 360 IPTV Article

Related articles:
- Sony pips Microsoft Report
- Microsoft IPTV middleware wins praise abroad Report

Avail ready to exploit tier 2 IPTV uptake

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 06:59:40 -0500

North Virginia based Avail Media has secured $25 million in B round venture capital as it seeks to exploit the rush in demand for programming from tier two and three US telcos.

Avail was started by ex-Intelsat executives who saw the opportunity to deliver programming to the newly emerging IPTV carriers, most of which have had no experience with programming negotiation and distribution. Avail was formed from a merger of Aurora's Communications and BroadStream Communications in December 2006.

It closed its Series B financing last week, securing $25 million from investors, Novak Biddle Venture Partners , Valhalla Partners, Pioneer Ventures and Columbia Capital. A further $5 million had been previously raised as debt from Silicon Valley Bank. Avail is a program aggregator and enables would-be IPTV operators to focus on infrastructure deployment while leaving programming access to them. Avail is competing against the likes of SES Americom's IP Prime and also Echostar's ViP-TV which provides 300 channels from its K band satellites. IP Prime has enjoyed first mover advantage through its industry relationship with the National Rural Telecommunications Co-operative and offers a turnkey solution for any telco seeking to enter the IPTV market.

Avail is hoping the market will be big enough for several players and marketing manager Jon Romm is confident the tier two carriers and the remaining reluctant tier three players are now ready to jump into IPTV. How enthusiastic they will be if the US economy goes into reverse is to be seen, but Romm confirms that many of the regional carriers are now engaged in serious deployment negotiations.

For More:
- Avail press release of its VC funding
- Light reading has a report

Related Articles:
- Aurora's Communications and BroadStream merge to form Avail Media Report
- On the Hot Seat with Keith Galitz Report

Spanish giant plays with IPTV

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 06:59:10 -0500

Spanish owned UK Mobile operator, Telefonica O2, is to begin playing in the IPTV space and is looking for modest investments in early start up video 2.0 businesses and mobile advertising. O2 UK launched a broadband service earlier in 2007, but had not announced its IPTV strategy.

Telefonica's director of innovation, Russ Shaw, will make investments on behalf of O2 Europe, Telefonica Spain and Telefonica Latin America and the expectation is Telefonica will sit on the boards of companies it takes a stake in. Shaw has already secured deals with two companies, one of which is London-based. Three more deals are expected imminently.

Telefonica is one of the world's big Telcos and the giant this week promoted Matthew Key, the man who won them the prestigious Apple iPhone contract in the UK, to chief executive of Telefonica O2 Europe. Mr Key, currently chief executive of O2 UK, will succeed veteran mobile network executive Peter Erskine,, who steps down age 57 to a non-executive role in January.

For More:
- Telefone O2 goes shopping for IPTV Report

Related Articles:
- Telefonica pays top dollar for UK mobile business Report
- Investors warm to FiOS Report

U-verse given the green light in Connecticut

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 06:59:50 -0500

AT&T has been granted a franchise for its IPTV U-verse service in Connecticut after a state court overturned a decision by the local utility regulator which required U-verse to have to get a franchise in each area in which it wanted to operate. The decision is an important precedent and clears the way for similar state-level clearance to facilitate the rapid roll out of the broadband infrastructure necessary to support IPTV and other high access services. AT&T becomes the first competitor to offer television services under a new state law designed to increase competition with the cable industry.

The decision was a blow for Comcast and Cablevision who now face an aggressive roll out of a high profile competitive service. AT&T was of course chuffed: "We are pleased that the DPUC has taken this step on behalf of Connecticut consumers who have long desired more choice in the video marketplace. Credit also goes to our state's legislators and Governor Rell, who passed a forward-thinking new law that encourages competition," AT&T Connecticut President Ramona Carolow said.

Also happy were the unions, with 1,300 workers idol since the mid-October decision that stopped the roll out. Union chief Bill Henderson, said the court made the right decision and union members, who have been working since Dec. 16, 2006 installing the service, can get back to creating a new fiber-optic system to serve customers.

For More:
- AT&T wins statewide Connecticut franchise Report
- DPUC Issues Certificate For U-Verse Report

Related Articles:
Connecticut franchise battle continues Report
U-verse avoids Connecticut regulators Report

The next big thing: Plastic fiber for the home

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 07:59:20 -0400

In the cavernous halls of the Georgia World Congress Center at last weeks TelcoTV trade show there was a small stand getting a lot of buzz and corridor talk. Irish photonics company Firecomms was drawing a lot of attention with their working display of polymer optical fiber (commonly known as POF) for home networking.

The fiber is made by Mitsubishi and is already widely deployed in cars and aircraft where its immunity to any electrical noise makes it the cable of choice. The plastic fiber can be bent whichever ways, is very durable and its string like diameter makes it ideal for apartments where it can be neatly tucked under carpet or along the baseboard. Firecomms is marketing POF as the ideal home networking cable and with Motorola has developed a set of adapters which gives POF "garden hose" connectivity. At the demo POF was indeed quick and easy to terminate and its complete flexibility means it can easily be installed and adapted as household uses change. Troubleshooting was easy as POF uses an eye-safe visible red light.

The cable has a data rate of up to a gigabyte, which if the predictions of HDTV everywhere prove true is what will be needed for bandwidth. The POF cable is being made available for domestic use amid growing acknowledgment that one of the greatest challenges/opportunities in the world of high access will be ensuring a stable, standardized, high performance, low maintenance and flexible in home platform.

For More:
- Simply put: White paper on POF
- Mitsubishi and Firecomms home demo Release

U-verse gives a glimpse of the future

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 07:59:10 -0400

AT&T's U-verse gave TelcoTV attendees in Atlanta a glimpse of the future with an early morning demo of lab applications they have been playing with. U-verse video and converged services VP, Peter Hill, said the demonstrations were a glimpse at "the art of the possible," rather than ready to go products but emphasized how easy integration was in an all IP world.

In no particular order they included: transmission of live HD home video from an external location to the home set-top box and alternatively access to home video uplifted to the web; display of caller ID and/or "You Have Voice Mail" message on the television which can be forwarded to a cell phone depending on location; a "Family Finder" which uses GPS in family cell phones and tracked on third party maps and a similar product which tracks flights; messaging integrated with video and other media; access to a myriad of web services including live local weather, pictures (from Flikr) music and podcasts, movie trailers and ecommerce applications and remote access and control of home televisions and DVR's by cell phones.

Some may argue none are the killer apps which will sell IPTV, but as Hill observed the applications illustrated what AT&T believes will deeply differentiate IPTV--stuff which can be done largely by "reaching out to a decade of innovation on the Web and kind of integrating that into IPTV."

For More:
- AT&T Provides Glimpse into U-verse 'Art of the Possible' Report

Related Articles:
U-verse to bundle VoIP service Report
AT&T's U-verse gains subs Report