When telcos are asked how they are going to differentiate their TV services from the entrenched cablecos and DBS providers and otherwise create successful business models, ease of use, local content and a wider selection of content often are the answers. A new study from MRG (Multimedia Research Group) Inc. touches on these themes and offers some other tips on what telcos should consider as they move to create winning IPTV content strategies.
Know Your Market
A “me-too” approach is not going to work, so telephone companies need to know what content and pricing is being offered by the competition and should figure out how they can use local programming to their advantage, says Gary Schultz, MRG president and principal analyst. But, he adds, the type of local — and other — programming that makes the most sense will vary from community to community. Schultz suggests that telcos work with a consultant to get a competitive analysis on the local markets in which they want to offer TV services. A variety of companies — including consulting-only firms, vendors like Kasenna and systems integrators like Accenture — offer such competitive analysis services.
On-Demand Can Be a Differentiator
Although large cable companies offer on-demand content in larger markets, it’s not always available in smaller markets in which the cablecos may not have two-way enabled their plants and/or set-top boxes yet, says Schultz, so a telco with on-demand capabilities could use this as leverage to win customers.
Drop the Entry Fee
Schultz adds that offering on-demand options without requiring customers to buy the basic tier of programming also could be a terrific differentiator for a telco. In fact, he says, some Canadian telcos are doing as such with good results.
Telcos could do the same as this relates to offering tiers of programming, he says. Today, cablecos typically require consumers to spend $40 or $50 on a basic package of programming before they even get the option to buy a vertical tier of programming such as sports, news or whatever, he says. “So there’s an opportunity there. I’m not saying it’s easy to achieve it, but there is an opportunity.” PCCW in Hong Kong and FastWeb of Italy have been doing that for some time now, according to Schultz.
| Links |
| MRG (Multimedia Research Group) Inc. www.mrgco.com |
