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Bundesliga could help kick-start Deutsche Telekom's "triple play"
Germany - 11 August, 2006
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Deutsche Telekom's deal to broadcast Bundesliga matches online has experts predicting a breakthrough in Internet-TV.
"We're on the brink of a television revolution," said Willi Berchtold, the president of Bitkom, the German association of telecommunications and new media industries.
Deutsche Telekom is offering a "triple play" of high-speed Internet bundled with basic telephone and television services.
The company currently can offer the deal only to a small number of customers with a spokesman estimating 3.3 million households available. But Deutsche Telekom hopes to double that figure by the end of the year, and is aiming for 1 million triple-play customers by 2007.
After delays to Deutsche Telekom's T-Home Internet television system, the company now expects to be ready for the start of the Bundesliga season Friday. The company will be able to broadcast 70 channels on its system, though this should increase to as many as 100 once licensing agreements with other stations have been signed.
For Bitkom, the Bundesliga deal represents the start of Internet-TV's mainstreaming in Germany. Berchtold pointed to a study by the market research group Gartner that predicted 2.8 million German households will watch TV via the Internet by 2010. The market for Internet-TV in Germany mainly consists of downloads.
The telecommunications industry association says there's room for improvement, as Germany currently lags far behind other EU countries such as Italy and France when it comes to Internet-TV. According to Bitkom, France will claim the top spot on the European market by the end of the year with approximately 1.7 million Internet-TV subscribers.
"We're on the brink of a television revolution," said Willi Berchtold, the president of Bitkom, the German association of telecommunications and new media industries.
Deutsche Telekom is offering a "triple play" of high-speed Internet bundled with basic telephone and television services.
The company currently can offer the deal only to a small number of customers with a spokesman estimating 3.3 million households available. But Deutsche Telekom hopes to double that figure by the end of the year, and is aiming for 1 million triple-play customers by 2007.
After delays to Deutsche Telekom's T-Home Internet television system, the company now expects to be ready for the start of the Bundesliga season Friday. The company will be able to broadcast 70 channels on its system, though this should increase to as many as 100 once licensing agreements with other stations have been signed.
For Bitkom, the Bundesliga deal represents the start of Internet-TV's mainstreaming in Germany. Berchtold pointed to a study by the market research group Gartner that predicted 2.8 million German households will watch TV via the Internet by 2010. The market for Internet-TV in Germany mainly consists of downloads.
The telecommunications industry association says there's room for improvement, as Germany currently lags far behind other EU countries such as Italy and France when it comes to Internet-TV. According to Bitkom, France will claim the top spot on the European market by the end of the year with approximately 1.7 million Internet-TV subscribers.
Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 -
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