Pay Tv

Pyramid: IPTV's share of pay TV growing

Dan O'Shea — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 22:33:38 -0500

Light Reading's Pyramid Research division reports that IPTV's share of the overall pay TV subscriber base will grow from 3 percent in 2008 to 14 percent in 2013. The gain will come at the expense of the cable TV sector, which will see its share slide from 76 percent to 61 percent over the same period, Pyramid said.

It will be a busy week for IPTV-related research. Light Reading affiliate Heavy Reading is set to announce new IPTV market research at TelcoTV 2008 in Anaheim, Calif., on Wednesday, and Parks Associates also has a new report on tap to be discussed at the event.

For more:
- Here's the Pyramid press release

Latin America IPTV to reach $12.6 billion by 2013

Dan O'Shea — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:28:17 -0400

Asia and Europe are getting a lot of credit for IPTV leadership, and the U.S. market is considered the upstart on the global landscape, but what about Latin America? Signals Telecom Consulting of Argentina (and also Miami) has come out with a new market study projecting that Latin America IPTV markets will be valued at $12.6 billion by 2013. Pay TV penetration likely will reach around 34 percent of households by that year, and IPTV is expected to account for about 19 percent of pay TV subscribers. Mexico, Argentina and Brazil are expected to be among the regional leaders.

For more:
- read this post at IPTV News

Related articles
Synergy Research Group recently reported a spike in the IPTV equipment market. Synergy report
TMNG predicted 60 million IPTV subscribers worldwide by 2010. TMNG report

Comstar to buy Ural with eye on IPTV

Dan O'Shea — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:24:08 -0400

Russian telco Comstar United TeleSystems has agreed to acquire the parent firm of Ural Telephone Company (UTC), an alternative telco in Russia's Ural Federal District, for $43.3 million. The deal brings Comstar 61,000 new customers, and is the latest in a string of acquisitions that also included the recent buys of Digital Telephone Networks and Interlink Group.

Comstar already offers IPTV and related services in some regions of Russia, and the company said UTC will soon offer IPTV and expand its broadband service offerings.

For more:
- read this story at Total Telecom

Related articles:
Russia's Corbina Telecom has been aiming for an IPTV launch Corbina report
Pay TV may still be strong in Russia as IPTV finds its footing Pay TV report

North America IPTV not yet eating from satellite's dish

Dan O'Shea — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:21:00 -0400

While IPTV growth was very strong in North America last year, telcos offering IPTV are not yet taking a significant number of customers away from satellite TV companies, according to market research firm iSuppli. A few telcos, notably AT&T, have had resale relationships with satellite companies that might have driven them to be more careful not to compete with satellite in the past, though the more likely reasons for this lack of IPTV-satellite competition could be that IPTV has not yet extended into markets where satellite adoption has been particularly strong. Case in point: I live in a neighborhood in Chicago where satellite dishes seemingly out-number houses. You can always tell when there is some local interference because half the neighborhood emerges from their homes armed with tools to bang on and re-position their gear. AT&T's U-verse TV service, in any case, is not yet widely available in this particular area, but I have to believe the satellite firms will not rule this area for much longer.

iSuppli shows that while IPTV subscribership actually almost quadrupled last year in North America to reach 1.2 million, many of those subscribers were net addition to the pay TV market as a whole, rather than stolen from satellite (though a couple of cable TV firms and telcos have indicated cable companies didn't get off so easily). Satellite TV adoption continues to grow in North America, iSuppli says, but for how much longer?

For more:
- check out this post at IPTV News

Related articles:
IPTV revenues in the U.S. alone reportedly could hits $14 billion by 2012 IPTV revenue report
The European IPTV market is in the process of doubling by next year European IPTV report

Study: Free IPTV has its price

Dan O'Shea — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:58:13 -0400

Media consulting firm Screen Digest has released a study showing that about 40% of the households receiving IPTV service across Europe's booming array of markets are actually receiving the service for free as a result of IPTV being bundled with other services. Was IPTV supposed to become a commodity quite this quickly?

Though this trend fits with all the advice carriers have been getting about how to think of IPTV as a customer retention tool, Screen Digest points out in a press release that "in many cases the sheer size of the investment needed to deliver IPTV far outweighs the cost savings resulting from even a substantial drop in broadband churn, particularly as IPTV is currently generating so little revenue." What creates a difficult situation for service providers will of course be advantageous to customers, as IPTv drives down the cost of other pay TV services. For example, Screen Digest notes that "France now enjoys some of the cheapest pay-TV in the world, with much content available free simply with a broadband subscription. For this reason, nearly a fifth of French households will be using IPTV as their main method of TV viewing by 2012."

For more:
- see this Screen Digest press release

Related articles:
Europe's top IPTV drivers Europe's IPTV
Global IPTV to see 52% growth through 2012 IPTV growth report
Other studies have shown that IPTV is starting to affect the success of pay TV IPTV report