North American IPTV subscribers quadrupled in 2007, says iSuppli

June 19, 2008 - The number of IPTV subscribers in North America nearly quadrupled last year to reach 1.2mn, according to a new report from iSuppli, and total subscribers in North and South America rose 257% to reach 1.8mn at the end of 2007.

The report goes on to say that IPTV is not stealing customers away from North American satellite TV providers yet, as IPTV subscribers in the region are mostly net additions to the pay-TV market. “The early hypothesis was that IPTV subscribers would ‘come out of the hide’ of the satellite companies in North America,” said Pamela Tufegdzic, multimedia analyst at iSuppli. “However, over the past four quarters, satellite subscriber numbers have continued to grow in the region. The initial results show that IPTV subscribers in the United States still are mostly net additions to the pay-television market.” Satellite subscriber numbers in North and South America rose from 36.3mn in 2006 to 39.5mn in 2007, according to the report.

AT&T's U-Verse service accounted for 231,000 North American IPTV subscribers at the end of last year, while Verizon's FiOS service had 943,000, collectively representing an increase of 294% from the end of 2006. iSuppli believes that the satellite television industry in North America will face increasing challenges in 2008 and beyond. “Satellite providers are in a bit of a squeeze,” said Tufegdzic. “These companies previously partnered with the telcos to offer television service to compete with the bundled voice and video offerings from the cable providers. As they try to expand into IPTV, the satellite providers now find that a significant portion of their subscriber base of television subscribers is owned by the telcos.”

The number of IPTV subscribers in North and South America is forecast to grow ten-fold by 2011 to reach 17.7mn, while global IPTV subscribers are predicted to rise from just under 10mn at the end of 2007 to 82.6mn by 2011.