> Informa Telecoms & Media is reporting that there will be 66 million-plus IPTV homes by 2015 and 27.7 million by the end of this year, an increase of 7.5 million over last year. It's difficult to discern if the predictions include the masses of cable TV subscribers who might be moved to IPTV--even though they may not know it--during this time frame. It does make clear that the "vast majority of IPTV subscribers (will) take triple or dual-play packages" which is expected to be "good news for telcos which will achieve higher blended ARPU." Story.
> In more IPTV news--what a coincidence, just as TelcoTV is going on--Bluestreak Technologies and Amino Communications have announced via a news release that they are partnering to provide "new interactive television solutions to IPTV and cable operators." Again, there's some question, with cable's push into the IP space, why the differentiator is needed, but the two companies maintained the space by noting "IPTV companies and cable operators are seeking the best ways to rapidly deliver a wide variety of Web, telephony and television experiences through a single, easy-to-use experience" and that Bluestreak and Amino are "delivering the new types of converged entertainment experiences that consumers demand." News release.
> It's never a bad idea for the cable industry to get a glimpse of how it's perceived outside its safe little cocoon--no matter how painful that glimpse might be. As such, here's a public service based on recent third quarter earnings results that dismissed the potential harm of cord cutting for cable. "After first denying cord cutters existed at all, undeniable defections the last two quarters have forced a change in tactics," Karl Bode wrote in Broadband Reports. "Instead of denying cord cutters exist, cable's now intent on insulting these users as poor and unimportant." Blog.
> It might be noted that in order to effectively cut the cable cord, viewers need some source of entertainment TV. Broadcasters have been resisting providing that source free of charge and the recent report that Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) is expected to announce flat earnings over the past year even as "ESPN remains the strongest cable channel in the business." Story.
And finally... in a bit of irony considering how CNN sprang from a news network to a news phenomenon (think first Iraq war), the channel's founder and cable iconoclast Ted Turner, now chairman of the United Nations Foundation, has said "wars disrupt all the things we're trying to do. The world is so interconnected today we can't afford wars." Story.