Convergence of television, telephony and Internet access (triple play) (ePub)

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Business economics - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,3, European Business School - International University Schloß Reichartshausen Oestrich-Winkel, course: Information Systems, 31 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: In the year 2005 Cisco Systems, the most important company in the market of IP related services and products acquired the second largest manufacturer of set-top boxes, Scientific Atlanta, for $6.9 billion. Being asked in an interview for the reason of this acquisition Cisco CEO John Chambers stated that he expects the TV, voice and data services of the future to be transmitted via IP, so called triple play. Becoming a supplier of set-top boxes therefore seemed a logical step to him.
To date there are about 30 triple play offers available among Europe, offering customers not only cheaper but also more feature-rich communication and entertainment services. It seems as if network operators and content provider have finally learnt from the failures of whole industries in the past: Not only was the photo industry erupted by the sudden digitalization, forcing former market leaders such as Agfa to give up their core business. Also major music labels realized almost too late that a digitalized market is an opportunity for them rather than a thread.
In this context the timing of increased interest in triple play does not surprise, as this concept is endowed with strong incentives for almost all involved parties: Whereas network operators may use it as an answer to compensate declining revenues resulting from increasing competition it might equip content provider with an additional distribution channel for future growth. And last but not least the consumers may profit from cost savings and an increase in more feature-rich interactive TV content. The objective of this paper is to give the reader a detailed understanding of the convergence concept triple play and its strategic importance for the telecommunication and entertainment market.