IPTV Market To Pose Challenge To Cable Co.'s

The market for Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) will rise to about $26 billion by 2011, as Telcos increasingly look to IPTV offerings to augment their declining voice communications revenue, according to a new report from iSuppli. The market stood at about $780 million in 2006. Telcos see IPTV as an opportunity to recapture revenue generated by many of the Internet-based services offered by cable companies. IPTV will deliver more than just video services, like access to digital music, on-demand gaming, data services, and home security. And IPTV will still have significant room for expansion after 2011, iSuppli predicts. But to put the market in perspective, Comcast alone had cable revenue of more than $26 billion in 2006. "It is very likely that the entire worldwide IPTV industry in 2011 will not be as large as Comcast alone is," Frank Dickson, principal analyst at iSuppli, said in a statement.