Time Warner exec says cable company plans IPTV test

An executive with Time Warner Cable, rumored last month to be planning a Los Angeles-area test of Microsoft's Mediaroom IPTV software, confirmed the company is planning a trial by the end of the year.

James Manchester, TWC's top engineering executive, said IPTV is one way the cable industry is hoping it can curtail loses of video subscribers. The U.S. saw IPTV subscriber growth hit nearly 60 percent last year.

"It's no secret that we're losing video subscribers as an industry," he said. "We can't afford to wait."

Time Warner, the nation's second-largest cable TV concern, has dabbled in IPTV before. In 2007, it launched a video service for its business customers using IPTV over broadband delivered via the cable infrastructure.

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