In smallish Keller, Texas, a suburb 30 miles west of Dallas, Verizon FiOS TV recently got off the ground, and in one defining moment, sent a resounding message to the cable and satellite industries that telco TV is now on the air, and in business.
Telco TV. It comes in various forms, sizes and shapes and uses a variety of new technologies, existing network architectures, IP-based transport, coaxial cable, as well as copper and fiber-to the-prem networks. It also poses a significant threat to the incumbent cable and satellite service providers.
Telcos of all shapes and sizes--including SBC Communications, BellSouth, Surewest Communications and Verizon Communications-are helping to lead the way into the video space. Many are using new IP.-based technologies, while others are tapping older, but tried-and-true cable-like RF broadcasting techniques to deliver a full service menu of high-definition fare, video-on-demand, digital video recording, music channels, interactive ganging and more over fully digital networks.
Coupled with data and voice services, telco TV is expected to become serious business. Worldwide, telco TV use will reach 32 million households by 2009, predicts Research and Markets.
And though a track full of hurdles needs to be cleared by telco TV providers (marketing, cultural, speed-to- market and operational issues, among them), a growing number of experts are calling telco TV a telecommunications revolution of sorts.
"It could be a watershed event (FiOS TV in Keller and the growth of the telco TV market at large) in the delivery of telecommunications services in [this] country-video into the telcos' arsenal and voice into cable's. But we have to look at each telco individually, not as a whole industry. Their success will hinge on video, but they're not homogeneous," says Clif Holiday, analyst and writer for Information Gatekeepers, a Boston-based consulting firm.
They're not passive either. Verizon arguably is setting the telco TV pace in terms of large scale plans with its FiOS TV product, and aggressive strategy of offering video content and more across its 15-state market, where it recently filed for franchises in 21 North Texas communities totaling 400,000 households.
"FiOS is the genesis, and fiber is the future. We are acquiring content and planning to deliver up to 100 Mbps over fiber-to-the-home (FTTH). However, this is not just a video strategy to compete with cable," says Mark Marschand, Verizon's senior director of network technology, media relations.
FiOS TV uses a fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) broadband network and the company is …
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