Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Free at 2.3 Million IPTV Capable Subscribers

In its 2007 earnings presentation Free stated that 2.3 million of its 2.9 million broadband subscribers were capable of receiving pay TV services. This is an increase from 1.7 million at the end of 2006. (This is the best estimate that I can find of the number of its subscribers that are capable of receiving IPTV services.)

Free also stated that 50.4 percent of its subscribers have a Freebox HD, which is capable of receiving HD content. It also stated that 80 percent of its subscribers are accessing Pay TV services. (It is not clear what this is 80 percent of. I will try to find out.)

Free also had 1.3 video on demand purchase and subscriptions in 4Q07, which is up from 768 thousand in 4Q06.

I have believed for a long time that Free is the leading IPTV service provider globally for a long time. The way it offers its service and presents its numbers makes this a bit murky. It is not clear how many of its subscribes actually watch TV using its service. However, it is so far ahead of any other IPTV service provider that these issues seem like quibbles.

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