NTL says the combined offer of pay-TV, broadband, fixed and mobile telephony will give the company - expected to be renamed Virgin TV - a marketing edge over rivals and create new revenue streams. But, others think the hype is misleading.
NTL believes the convergence of its products and services with Virgin Mobile's will enable it to make better offers than the competition. It will be able to make any number of promotions to encourage customers to sign up to more than one service; say, free pay-TV for those signing up for fixed line and broadband or free landline if they sign up to mobile.
NTL's spokesman comments: "No-one else is offering four products with one connection and one bill. In a market where customers are looking for simplicity and value, it's powerful."
The company could integrate services, enabling people to receive texts via TV, for example. Also, a trial with NTL and peer-to-peer technology BitTorrent in May will provide some broadband customers with 100MB broadband and the chance to download legal videos.
This could pave the way for a multi-channel pack where users had the choice of broadband to download films, watch them via video-on-demand (VOD) or see previews on their mobile.
Real value
However, Alexander Cameron, managing director of IPTV consultancy Digital TX, believes quadruple-play is a lot of hype about very little. He thinks the real value lies in the adoption of the Virgin brand through a 30-year, exclusive licence deal, which allows NTL to use the Virgin brand.
Cameron says: "Quad-play is unknown territory as the point is supposed to be universal connectivity through the same provider. Triple-play is an easy sell as all the services run over the same broadband connection, whereas mobile is a funny add-on, even if you have Wi-Fi VoIP and Blackberry-style email on the move with GPRS."
He adds: "I'd be excited if they offered me free mobile minutes in a loyalty scheme for videos I watched on-demand though."
In a market of big players, the Virgin Mobile merger gives NTL a more aggressive stance, from a brand and channel perspective. Steve Burch, president and CEO at NTL, says: "Recent research has shown that almost every single person in the UK knows the Virgin brand. It is the fourth best market brand in the world and the 44th most respected company in the world."
However, the move by NTL is likely to be met by a series of competitive counters from BT and Sky as all three companies aim to get a competitive edge. The merger of NTL with Telewest created a broadband customer base of 2.8 million subscribers. Meanwhile, Sky has moved into broadband with its £211m acquisition of Easynet and counts 7.8 million pay-TV subscribers, against NTL's 3.3 million.
IPTV arrival
"There is nothing stopping Sky from buying or starting a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) to compete with NTL," says Cameron. "But, presumably, they don't want to take on too much and don't really see it's compelling enough." Sky was unavailable for comment.
Then there is new kid on the block BT with the imminent arrival of its IPTV platform. A BT spokesperson would not speculate on moves by Sky or NTL but said: "We will compete once we launch BT Vision in the autumn."
BT Vision combines Freeview via aerials with a personal video recorder (PVR) and on-demand content with a 'catch-up' TV element. Customers only pay for what they use.
BT also offers mobile TV offer Movio, which uses the DAB radio spectrum to deliver TV to mobile, rather than via 3G. "We are effectively doing wholesale it to mobile phone companies to provide to customers."
Cameron predicts the ISP play from now on will be as a "digital home-network provider", which supplies a free broadband connection and makes money from value-added services.
"What's next?" he asks. "My multi-play service that ties in utilities is next: gas, electricity, water, phone, broadband, TV, mobile and DVD rental - all on the same bill."
.jpg)
.jpg)