BellSouth, the No. 3 US local telephone company, has just announced that it has signed a deal to receive satellite video services from SES Global as it moves ahead with test plans to deliver television over the Internet.
The deal with SES Global's US arm, SES Americom, expands on a trial BellSouth began last year with Microsoft to launch a new Internet Protocol television, or IPTV, system in mid-2006.
BellSouth are taking the cautious route to IPTV, avoiding the huge investments that the likes of AT&T and Verizon are making into monstrous new fibre optics networks. I'm not sure that caution is going to pay in this market. They need to remember that their real competition is the cable companies and they are well ahead. For the consumer today, whether it's cable or IP matters little.
As far as telco strategies go we support those being a little more aggressive such as AT&T and Verizon. If you want to catch the cable guys you have to throw big dice and large marketing spends.
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