Cable Operators Move to OTT Video

  

A survey by Heavy Reading Senior Analyst Alan Breznick (picture), finds that "About 40% of cable operators plan to launch IP video services by 2012, and nearly 80% of cable providers have already launched or intend to start trials or full deployments by that time .. citing a one-year study of 50 to 60 MSOs from around the globe, said about 46% of operators expect IP-based set-tops to become a "mainstream" product by next year, with about 75% expecting the same by 2013"

See "Cable Gets Serious About IP Video" - here.

The article does not provide the reasons for what seems to be a redundant move, at least as far as the subscriber may see this (as he gets today linear and VOD services).

However, there are probably several reasons for that - breaking the limits of the MSOs current geographical reach and providing services for all type of screens, including of course mobile devices.

Nevertheless, once the customer moves to IP based video - there are many other choices - as we can see by the recent report from Netflix (here) and "Infonetics: OTT Streaming Services Doubled Set-top Boxes Sales" - here.

See also a Light reading interview with Roku's CEO Anthony Wood - here, and a presentation by Boxee CEO Avner Ronen (no relations) - here - and below.