Telmex, controlled by Carlos Slim, one the world’s wealthiest men has seen profits and ad revenue decline in the last several quarter’s, due to increased competition from cell phone and cable providers.

The company had a 13 percent drop in second-quarter net profit on Tuesday and its revenue decreased 6.3 percent.

Internet television, or IPTV will allow Telmex to leverage its existing broadband network to offer video and bundle its other phone and Internet services at affordable prices for customers.

"We have been preparing our telecommunications platform to provide triple-play services, we are ready to provide IPTV," Chief Financial Officer Adolfo Cerezo told analysts at a conference call on Wednesday.

To offer IPTV, Telmex was required to meet a number of conditions, including letting cable companies interconnect with its network and being prepared for number portability, or changing carriers without having to switch phone numbers.

Another problem hindering Telmex’s plans is a government decision on if the company should pay an additional fee to revise it concession and offer IPTV as an additional service it can provide.

"How long will it take? I don’t know. I would like to have a crystal ball in my hands to give you a good estimation but my assumption is that it shouldn’t take too long," Cerezo said. "Telmex has already complied with all the things it was asked to comply with."

Other companies including Cablevision, a division of broadcaster Televisa, currently offers triple-play to its customer in the Mexico City area.

Telmex said the number of lines in service dropped three percent year-over-year, to 17.7 million lines in operation at the end of June.

Telmex, controlled by Carlos Slim, one the world’s wealthiest men has seen profits and ad revenue decline in the last several quarter’s, due to increased competition from cell phone and cable providers.

The company had a 13 percent drop in second-quarter net profit on Tuesday and its revenue decreased 6.3 percent.

Internet television, or IPTV will allow Telmex to leverage its existing broadband network to offer video and bundle its other phone and Internet services at affordable prices for customers.

"We have been preparing our telecommunications platform to provide triple-play services, we are ready to provide IPTV," Chief Financial Officer Adolfo Cerezo told analysts at a conference call on Wednesday.

To offer IPTV, Telmex was required to meet a number of conditions, including letting cable companies interconnect with its network and being prepared for number portability, or changing carriers without having to switch phone numbers.

Another problem hindering Telmex’s plans is a government decision on if the company should pay an additional fee to revise it concession and offer IPTV as an additional service it can provide.

"How long will it take? I don’t know. I would like to have a crystal ball in my hands to give you a good estimation but my assumption is that it shouldn’t take too long," Cerezo said. "Telmex has already complied with all the things it was asked to comply with."

Other companies including Cablevision, a division of broadcaster Televisa, currently offers triple-play to its customer in the Mexico City area.

Telmex said the number of lines in service dropped three percent year-over-year, to 17.7 million lines in operation at the end of June.

Telmex, controlled by Carlos Slim, one the world’s wealthiest men has seen profits and ad revenue decline in the last several quarter’s, due to increased competition from cell phone and cable providers.

The company had a 13 percent drop in second-quarter net profit on Tuesday and its revenue decreased 6.3 percent.

Internet television, or IPTV will allow Telmex to leverage its existing broadband network to offer video and bundle its other phone and Internet services at affordable prices for customers.

"We have been preparing our telecommunications platform to provide triple-play services, we are ready to provide IPTV," Chief Financial Officer Adolfo Cerezo told analysts at a conference call on Wednesday.

To offer IPTV, Telmex was required to meet a number of conditions, including letting cable companies interconnect with its network and being prepared for number portability, or changing carriers without having to switch phone numbers.

Another problem hindering Telmex’s plans is a government decision on if the company should pay an additional fee to revise it concession and offer IPTV as an additional service it can provide.

"How long will it take? I don’t know. I would like to have a crystal ball in my hands to give you a good estimation but my assumption is that it shouldn’t take too long," Cerezo said. "Telmex has already complied with all the things it was asked to comply with."

Other companies including Cablevision, a division of broadcaster Televisa, currently offers triple-play to its customer in the Mexico City area.

Telmex said the number of lines in service dropped three percent year-over-year, to 17.7 million lines in operation at the end of June.

Telmex, controlled by Carlos Slim, one the world’s wealthiest men has seen profits and ad revenue decline in the last several quarter’s, due to increased competition from cell phone and cable providers.

The company had a 13 percent drop in second-quarter net profit on Tuesday and its revenue decreased 6.3 percent.

Internet television, or IPTV will allow Telmex to leverage its existing broadband network to offer video and bundle its other phone and Internet services at affordable prices for customers.

"We have been preparing our telecommunications platform to provide triple-play services, we are ready to provide IPTV," Chief Financial Officer Adolfo Cerezo told analysts at a conference call on Wednesday.

To offer IPTV, Telmex was required to meet a number of conditions, including letting cable companies interconnect with its network and being prepared for number portability, or changing carriers without having to switch phone numbers.

Another problem hindering Telmex’s plans is a government decision on if the company should pay an additional fee to revise it concession and offer IPTV as an additional service it can provide.

"How long will it take? I don’t know. I would like to have a crystal ball in my hands to give you a good estimation but my assumption is that it shouldn’t take too long," Cerezo said. "Telmex has already complied with all the things it was asked to comply with."

Other companies including Cablevision, a division of broadcaster Televisa, currently offers triple-play to its customer in the Mexico City area.

Telmex said the number of lines in service dropped three percent year-over-year, to 17.7 million lines in operation at the end of June.

The survey found that faster than anticipated growth will lead to increased capital spending in the second half of this year, as service providers converge their wireless and wireline networks and launch advanced video services.

Over 54 percent of telecommunications professionals say mobile video is driving growth now or will within one year. Additionally 78 percent say that IPTV will drive growth within three years.

Nearly all respondents (96%) believe service providers will increase infrastructure spending in the second half of 2007. Fifty-one percent see the convergence of wireless and wireline networks taking place within two years.

"The survey confirms that users are driving the release of new video services such as mobile video and IPTV, and service providers will invest to meet that demand," said Steve McCarthy, Tellabs executive vice president, global sales and service.

"Tellabs solutions enable service providers to rapidly gear up for demand and to meet users’ high expectations for video services."

The survey was from 678 telecom professionals and tracked views on emerging market trends, industry outlook and convergence issues.

Developers may be interested in the Microsoft Media Application Development toolkit, which lets them create third-party applications to create revenue-sharing TV-based applications that run on the platform.

The platform was built upon existing Microsoft IPTV features, such as digital video recording, video on demand, high-definition television, and instant channel "zapping."

Mediaroom, renamed from the more generic Microsoft IPTV, adds:

Personal media sharing, which allows consumers to listen to digital music and view digital photographs stored on PCs elsewhere in the home on the television.

Multimedia Application Environment, which offers support for Web services and applications, enabling service providers to deploy features such as video-on-demand portals, casual games and interactive TV services.

Enhanced MultiView capabilities, which allow consumers to see multiple channels, programs and camera angles on one screen.

“As the digital TV services market continues to grow, service providers will search for competitive differentiators that set them apart in terms of features and overall consumer experience,” said Michelle Abraham, principal analyst at In-Stat, in a statement.

“A compelling and competitive feature set, powered by one of the strongest consumer brands in the world and the ability to create unique applications and services, is the recipe to convert consumers’ demand into service revenues.”

Microsoft has deals worked out with 18 service providers, with 10 of them already offering Mediaroom. The catch is, that’s about one service provider per country.

In the US, that means you have to go through AT&T’s U-verse, so just like with the iPhone, you have only one choice of provider, which probably means it won’t be affordable to the general population for some time. 

VoIP Gaining On Landlines

"VoIP is a genuinely disruptive technology; it is already changing the telecommunications landscape," says eMarketer Senior Analyst Ben Macklin, author of the new Broadband Services: VoIP and IPTV report.

Internet telephony grew quickly in 2006, due to the increased adoption of high-speed Internet, more awareness of VoIP and bundled options from service providers.

The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), VoIP users will account for one -third of all U.S. landline subscriptions in 2010, a 10 percent increase from 2006.

eMarketer projects that 46 percent of U.S. broadband households in 2011 will subscribe to a VoIP service, which would translate to 41.3 million VoIP subscribers.

"eMarketer expects approximately 30% of broadband households worldwide to subscribe to a paid VoIP service by 2011," says Mr. Macklin.

"In addition to paid subscriptions, millions of broadband households are regularly utilizing free Internet voice services from companies such as Skype, which recently reported 171 million registered users at the end of 2006, up nearly 100 million from a year earlier."

According to the TIA, 9.9 percent of all landlines in the U.S. were VoIP lines in 2006, and this will increase to 34.1 percent by 2010.

"Requiring considerably more bandwidth and technical know-how from service providers, IPTV is still in its infancy worldwide," says Mr. Macklin. "Nevertheless, it is on track to reshape a number of major industries."

Three areas are important for IPTV to grow and succeed, bandwidth, a workable regulatory environment and favorable TV market dynamics.

Currently France is the only country with over a million IPTV subscribers, so meeting the three requirements could be challenging.

"As a result," says Mr. Macklin, "unlike VoIP, which is likely to be universally attractive to broadband households, the growth of IPTV will be patchy across the globe."

The survey included around 350 communications executives in firms located in North and South America, Europe and Asia. While 60 percent believe that IPTV will generate strong revenue in the next three years the number falls to 52 percent over the next 12 months.

iEntry Inc. CEO Rich Ord relays that Barnett sent an email to Gates asking what he likes to watch on TV.

His answers: old Richard Feynman lectures and Dora the Explorer (with his daughter). “I will never miss a good golf tournament,” said Gates.

One day soon he may decide to spice things up a bit by switching out his regular iced tea with raspberry iced tea. Easy there, Wild Bill!

Barnett continued her portion of the “Rethinking TV: IPTV and the Personalization of Content” presentation exploring the future of Internet video.

“Everyone will have to adjust to new business models in delivering content,” she said. “With Internet video you will need someday to be able to relate advertising to sales.

Brent Simon, Product Manager for On-Demand Applications at Verizon added, “As long as the ads are relevant, [customers] will respond. Television is a totally different animal.

“I tend to think as we move further into the TV model, the advertising model will be changing. There will be [fewer] ads but they will be relevant with web video.”

Stay tuned for continuous coverage of the VON Conference in Boston.

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AOL, Warner Bros. Television and NBC are debuting shows on the Fall lineup at AOL.com – sans commercial. The two shows slated for the online premiere are “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” and “Twenty Good Years.”

The shows will air at AOL a week early. “Studio 60″ (which is what it will be called if it survives), scheduled for its network premiere September 18th, will debut online today. “Twenty Good Years,” slated for TV October 11th, will go online October 4th.

In what the company calls its “Fall Television package,” AOL is adding a myriad of primetime show information, video previews, spoilers, cast info, galleries, quizzes, and articles.

“The buzz has never been higher around an upcoming fall TV season, so we’re especially pleased to give fans early access to two of the year’s most anticipated new series,” said Erik Flannigan, VP of Programming, AOL Television.

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