IPTV Customers Found Satisfied With Their Service

February 19, 2009

U.S. consumers getting television over the Internet from Verizon and AT&T report being very satisfied with their service, according to a study conducted by Strategy Analytics.

More Than 80%Of FiOs and U-Verse customers report being very or extremely satisfied

More Than 80%Of FiOs and U-Verse customers report being very or extremely satisfied

The survey, completed in late 2008, highlights the competition developing in the American television delivery market as cable companies face challenges to their long-held monopolies. Both Verizon and AT&T have extended fiber-optic networks into local neighborhoods and provided high-speed broadband connections along with scores of digital television channels.

Strategy Analytics said it contacted 845 digital television subscribers, including some who received service from cable companies Comcast, Cox and Time Warner Cable and others who were customers of DirecTV and Dish.

More than 80 percent of subscribers to Verizon’s FiOS and AT&T’s U-Verse said they were extremely or very satisfied with their provider.

Digital television appears to be the greatest lure of the “triple play” offerings telecos developed to bundle TV, phone service and Internet connections, Strategy Analytics said.

Cable subscribers were the least happy with their service, with Time Warner customers most likely to switch.

Today’s television market place is becoming more complicated as consumers increasingly look to the Internet for content and avoid paying a cable or telecom provider.


Tivo Lost Nearly 1 Million Subscribers This Year; Forecasts Next Quarter Losses

November 25, 2008
Tivo’s total subscribers fell to 3.46 million, approximately the same level they had in Spring 2005

Tivo’s total subscribers fell to 3.46 million, approximately the same level they had in Spring 2005

When will Tivo finally turn around?

Today, the personal video recorder (PVR) pioneer released better than expected financial results, posting its fourth consecutive profitable quarter. Unfortunately, this will be the last one as Tivo now expects a $10 million to $12 million loss for its current fiscal fourth quarter on revenues of $47 million to $49 million.

But the Alviso, Calif., company keeps bleeding users: 163,000 subscribers last quarter; nearly 1 million since the beginning of the year!

A steep decline in spite adding services such YouTube and Netflix videos and signing distribution agreements with satellite-TV company DirecTV, cable provider Comcast and German software-maker Nero; that will all rollout/promote TiVo services.

“TiVo may have a valuable intellectual property portfolio, but its hardware selling business is over. For the most recent quarter, it sold fewer than 500 TiVo DVRs a day,” writes Bill Gorman of TV by the Numbers.

Last week, Tivo announced staff lay offs staff, taking a $1 million pretax charge for severance charges and outplacement.


New Video Streaming Site For Football Games Already Has Tens Of Thousands Of Paid Viewers

November 17, 2008
Supercast site shows games and on-demand highlights

Supercast site shows games and on-demand highlights

DirecTV’s new Supercast online video site for professional football games already has tens of thousands of viewers, said one of the marketing executives responsible for creating it.

The Supercast site, which streams live video of football games to personal computers, was launched in September to coincide with the start of the fall sports season.

It lets subscribers flip among games and offers statistics and other information about the players and contests.

The site is one of a number experimenting with new business models involving video streaming over the Internet. Hulu, another, offers an on-demand archive of television shows with commercials.

Ivan Todorov, CEO of the Los Angeles marketing agency Blitz, said Supercast appears to build consumer loyalty to the satellite broadcaster. DirecTV subscribers with access to the service are found to frequently switch among games and to view highlights from the contests that are available on-demand.

The site has attracted an audience in the “high tens of thousands,” he said. “The object was to bring DirecTV to the desktop.”

Supercast uses Adobe Systems’ Flash and Adobe Air technologies.

On Monday, Todorov and Flash developer Grant Skinner, who worked together to build Supercast, will announce a tighter partnership.


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