A CSMG White Paper
October 2008

Network operators seeking to compete with triple play offers from cable and satellite providers have launched their own IPTV services. In the majority of cases these IPTV offers have so far failed to reach scale. Scale is particularly important in IPTV, to cover large fixed entry costs, compete for premium content, and secure advertising deals. Developing a wholesale IPTV offer could enable network operators to build overall scale and improve the economics of their retail case through cost sharing with their wholesale business.

On the heels of the recent Cable Show in New Orleans, Bill Opet, SVP, writes a guest column for CableFAX Magazine addressing the competitive table stakes for Cable MSOs.

When, in May, CableLabs senior vice president Don Dulchinos reported his organization had undertaken a new initiative addressing the need for standardized interfaces that would make advanced TV advertising possible on a massive scale, our first thought was, this will help, but there still needs to be a pan-industry organizational framework to streamline cable’s operational interface with Madison Avenue.

Most broadband networks cannot cope with delivering bandwidth-intensive video to a large customer base. Video – as well as competitive dynamics and political pressure – is likely to drive deployment of next generation broadband access (VDSL and fibre to the home).

As the complexities of managing content across multiple distribution channels mount, content distributors could minimize their operational headaches if they could find a way to implement more streamlined approaches to end-to-end management of their assets.  Nobody understands this better than Jonathan Bartholomew, a new vice president and principal with TMNG Global at the firm’s London office.

MoCA took off in 2005 and 2006 as the leading approach in the U.S. to delivering IP video and other services over coax networks in the home. . .Whether new advances being introduced by MoCA technology innovator Entropic Communications will dampen enthusiasm among backers of the HANA solution remains to be seen.

Not very long ago it made sense to think of IPTV for cable as a long-range proposition tied to facilitating flexible delivery of services to whatever devices customers happen to be using at a given moment in time. But a combination of Web video content initiatives on the part of major as well as niche programming suppliers, rapid consumer embrace of Web-based TV entertainment and the telcos’ ability to exploit their IPTV platforms to support multiple-device access to all content, no matter its source, requires a reassessment of the strategic options.

The client, like other local exchange carriers, was seeing a dramatic reduction in access line growth, driven by several forces:

• Economic factors
• Competitive bypass
• Wireless substitution effects