Year One Anniversary of IPTV Commercialization

On Dec 12, the one-year anniversary of the launch of Internet Protocol television (IPTV), which has been hailed as the driver of interactive services and a next-generation growth engine, was celebrated with fanfare. The number of subscribers to IPTV services provided by KT, SK Broadband and LG Telecom topped 1.5 million.

At the celebration of the one-year anniversary of IPTV, held at COEX in Samsung-dong, the Korea Communications Commission and Korea Digital Media Industry Association declared December 12 to be IPTV Day. Industry insiders celebrated the fact that the number of IPTV subscribers reached 1.5 million in such a short period of time, in the face of strong competition from the cable TV market that boasts 15 million subscribers.

Some, however, beg to differ, pointing out the worse than expected performance of IPTV as the number of IPTV subscribers fell far short of the initial target range of 2.5 to 3 million. The Korea Communications Commission has urged operators to come up with active marketing strategies with the aim of boosting the number of IPTV subscribers beyond 2 million.

Credit to Korea IT Times

….while World’s IPTV forecasts issued

The latest IPTV forecasts from MRG have just been published. MRG’s numbers include a forecast for IPTV subscribers, service revenues, and system revenues from 2009 to 2013. By and large last year’s predicted numbers have already been achieved.

Because the 2009 subscriber total exceeded the last forecast by 2 million, the new forecast* indicates that global IPTV subscribers will grow from 28 million in 2009 to 83 million in 2013, a compound annual growth rate of 31%. The European region will continue to lead in IPTV deployments in 2013 with a 48% share, followed by Asia, North America and Rest of World.

“Now that the economy seems to be improving, and Service Providers are still reporting solid growth, this latest edition has adjusted the forecast accordingly,” stated Jose Alvear, MRG IPTV Analyst. “This was done in response to the better-than-expected growth exhibited by the major Service Providers around the world in 2009.”

Total service revenue for 2013 is projected at US$38 billion, also up sharply from the last forecast. MRG’s new report includes added information on strategies and new services being added to IPTV offerings. “Consumers are beginning to understand the advantages of IPTV,” says Gary Schultz, MRG President. “Simultaneously, IPTV operators are facing more competition, driving rapid investment in both infrastructure and new services.”

The four regions analyzed include a breakdown of capital spending, service revenue, and DSL & IPTV subscribers; and seven discrete IPTV system sectors, including Access Systems, Video Headends, Video-on-Demand, Set-top Boxes, Middleware, Content Protection/Digital Rights Management, and System Integration/Professional Services.

Credit to RapidTVNews

AT&T adds more HD channels nationwide to its U-verse IPTV service

Subscribers to AT&T’s U-verse TV service got an additional 5 HD channels today, bringing the number of high-definition channels from the service to at least 115 in every U.S. market. New international channels were also added to U-verse, including Filipino and Cantonese programming.

The new HD channels include Cartoon Network HD, MSNBC HD, TV One HD, and TBN HD (Dec. 15). The fifth addition is available to HD Premium package customers who will now get WFN: World Fishing Network HD.

AT&T has also added VivaTV Plus as part of the Filipino Package — providing movies, concerts and TV shows in Filipino. For Cantonese viewers, TVBe provides news from Hong Kong, entertainment news, and additional Cantonese-focused programming for $17 a month. Both of those channels are available only in standard-definition.

AT&T added over 60 HD channels this year, keeping them up to speed with Verizon’s FiOS TV and surpassing cable TV HD channel counts in most markets they serve.

The company also reached a milestone 2 million U-verse TV subscribers as of last Wednesday, half of them added within 2009.

Credit to hdreport