In the battle for the digital home, service providers of all kinds—from cable operators to independent ISPs to telcos—are pursuing a similar strategy of offering multiple, bundled services to customers. The goal: to be the single source provider for a variety of digital services. What has become apparent, however, is that this is easier said than done.

For cable providers, this means adding voice services to their TV and broadband offerings. While some cable providers are making inroads with VoIP services, the majority of consumers still rely on traditional voice operators for their telephone service. In the telecommunications industry, global leaders such as AT&T, BT, France Telecom, Deutsch Telekom and Verizon are all rolling out broadband TV, or IPTV, initiatives. Yet around the world, consumers who order TV service from the phone company are still a market anomaly.

The fact is that it’s hard to change the minds of consumers who already identify your company with a specific type of service. For the leading telcos, this challenge is even greater because of the enormous investment—and risk—involved in upgrading their legacy networks, and changing their entire business model to deliver video services. That’s why we’ve dedicated this issue to exploring the still-emerging market for IPTV.

In his book, Emotional Branding, author Mark Gobe writes, “In this hypercompetitive marketplace where goods and services alone are no longer enough to attract a new market or even to maintain existing markets or clients…it is the emotional aspect of products and their distribution systems that will be the key difference between consumers’ ultimate choice and the price that they will pay.”

In other words, to win and retain customers, telcos will have to do more than offer the same service as their cable competitors at a comparable price. They will have to offer a compelling, differentiated experience that entices consumers to switch—and to stay—with a new IPTV service.

However, because IPTV and other IP-based services are far more complex than basic broadband service, delivering them can be a drain on already stretched support resources. For example, a typical IPTV installation requires an in-person visit by a technician, who spends hours setting up the service. And nearly 100 percent of all IPTV technical support requests currently result in a phone call to the provider—taxing help desk and technical teams, and cutting into profit margins. The sheer complexity of the service and the numerous components involved threaten to compromise customer satisfaction.

This points to the need to think beyond simply marketing new services to how to manage and support those services over the long haul. Key to this will be interoperability among the many CPE devices used to deliver IPTV services. That’s why Motive is committed to promoting the DSL Forum TR-069 standard. Today, 23 of the world’s top CPE vendors and technology manufacturers participate in the MotiveSmart™ Verification Program, an initiative that ensures Motive and its partners support the evolving interoperability requirements of service providers to more flexibly and cost-effectively deploy and manage next-generation triple play services.

In this issue, we bring you the latest information on the companies around the globe that are defining the IPTV market. In our cover story, we examine some of the leading telcos’ strategies for winning the hearts and minds of their target customers. On page 10, we interview Marilyn O’Connell, Verizon’s senior vice president of video solutions, about the company’s innovative FiOS TV initiative. And in our Global Watch department, you'll find out how one IPTV pioneer has achieved the largest market penetration in the world by figuring out how to give customers exactly what they want.

We hope you enjoy our stories, and as always, we welcome your thoughts and comments.

Alfred Mockett
Chairman and CEO
Motive, Inc.