Abstract
IP TV service deployment is at an inflection point, and has all appearances of becoming commonly
offered by service providers globally. IP TV is finding broad acceptance across a broad range of
service providers among the largest incumbents such as SBC, Verizon, France Telecom, and BT, among
the smallest incumbents such as Cyprus Telecom Authority and the U.S. independents; and including a
range of competitive carriers, especially in Europe, such as FastWeb in Italy, Free and Neuf in
France, and Video Networks in the UK.
Some markets have very strong competition from cable companies. This is particularly true in
North America and parts of Europe, such as the Benelux countries and Austria. In many of these areas
the cable companies are becoming strong competitors for telephony services. For example, the leading
incumbents in the U.S. have lost as much as 25 percent of their switched access lines in the last
five years.
In Europe and Asia, where competition is less intense, many service providers are introducing IP
TV services to take advantage of what its an open market for IP TV services. In the U.S., the large
incumbents are responding to this competitive pressure with bundling strategies that include voice,
broadband data, TV services, and mobile services, which takes them beyond the cable companies
"triple play" to a "quadruple play" or "grand slam" strategy.
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