Report: Lacking flash, IPTV stumbles in video competition

A Strategy Analytics report says IPTV is doing OK, but not as well as originally predicted. The Boston-based analyst firm has revised its forecast downward to 68 million subscribers by 2014 because of the "unfulfilled promise" of IPTV.

Primarily, the report said, IPTV has failed to provide the flash that would cause subscribers to abandon their tried-and-true cable offerings to rush to a new service. "IPTV service providers have failed to answer the fundamental 'why' question," said report author Ben Piper.

There is hope, the report concludes, pointing to the inclusion of Cisco, Comcast and Intel in the IPTV market and the announcement that NDS had led a group of investors pumping $20 million into addressable advertising provider BlackArrow.

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