Strategy Analytics has come out with a new report suggesting a strong willingness among pay TV subscribers to switch service providers if a 20 percent discount is dangled in front of them. Telco TV customers are only half as likely as cable TV customers to make the change, but the message should be clear to TV service providers of all stripes: Price is still king.

None of us may want to admit that in the age of whole-home DVRs, 100 channels or more of HD, TV widgets and hybrid TV/online viewing packages. TV commercials from cable TV firms, telco TV companies and satellite TV providers still scream back and forth about who's offering more HD channels, and service providers are forever on the hunt for new premium offers they can use to milk a bit more revenue from their subscriber bases.

But, the Strategy Analytics data suggests it might be a good time to take a step back, and listen to what consumers are saying about the importance of price. This notion could be particularly important for telco TV operators at a time when subscriber growth is leveling off for their fledgling services. If they really want to embrace video and disassociate themselves with landline voice telephony, they may be able to re-connect with higher quarterly TV sign-ups by focusing on price. If they don't and someone else does, they may risk losing some of the early market progress they have made.

-Dan

Thomson, the French TV/video technology vendor that has been involved in many aspects of the cable TV business over the years is emerging from a bankruptcy-like restructuring program under chairman and CEO Frederic Rose, who was once an Alcatel-Lucent executive. The company, which more recently go into the telcoTV/IPTV sector, has made cost cuts over the last year and numerous other changes, including decisions to sell some units, and the most apparent change: Thomson's new name--Technicolor.

Yes, that's the same Technicolor as the film processing technique that was one of the hallmark's of Hollywood's Golden Age. Thomson has owned Technicolor, Inc., for some time, and in the new age of IPTV, OTT, mobile TV, and soon, 3D TV, Thomson chose to identify itself with a name that is linked most strongly with the early and middle years of the film industry (Some of you may ask, "What's film?") way back in the 20th Century.

Oh, well, despite decisions to sell units such as its Grass Valley Group and a convergent systems unit destined to be acquired by Sony, at least Technicolor is hanging on to its IPTV-related properties and units.

For more:
- The Wall Street Journal has this Dow Jones wire story

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As IPTV News ramps up its promotion of the IPTV World Forum 2010 event taking place next month in London, the publication has an interview with one of the event's keynote speakers, Peter Hill, vice president of video and converged services at AT&T Labs.

Notable among Hill's admissions in the Q&A is that AT&T is already testing 3D TV technologies in the lab setting. This may not necessarily be a surprise because 3D TV solutions were among the big hits of the recent Consumer Electronics Show, and it's likely that other service providers are at the same testing stage. However, the admission shows AT&T is not shying away from spending lab hours working on a new technology whose business case remains far from being fully developed.

For more:
- IPTV News has this post

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About 68 percent of U.S. pay TV subscribers are willing to switch service providers in exchange for a price discount of 20 percent, according to new data from market research firm Strategy Analytics. That may sound like good news to telco TV players looking to gain on cable TV firms. However, the study also notes that a not-modest 33% of telco TV/IPTV subscribers would switch away or back again--despite a 95 percent overall satisfaction rating among telco TV customers. Across all services, fewer than 22 percent of subscribers felt they were getting "value for money" that exceeded expectations, a Strategy Analytics press release stated. 

Ben Piper, director of the Strategy Analytics Multiplay Market Dynamics service, advised that with such variables at work, telco success in TV services is far from a forgone conclusion.

For more:
Here's the Strategy Analytics press release

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Strategy Analytics last year predicted 15.5 million U.S. IPTV subs by 2013