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August 2004
Making ‘Triple Play’ A Reality
BY GREG GALITZINE
Recent announcements by a couple of heavyweights underscore the
importance of offering customers the so-called Triple Play bundle of
services: digital television, broadband Internet, and telephone service.
Cablevision — a cable company whose access lines pass nearly three
million households in the New York metropolitan area recently announced that
for a limited time, new customers signing up to its triple play bundle will
pay a flat $90 a month for one year. The package would normally cost $135 a
month. Essentially they are throwing in the voice element for free in a bid
to sign up customers to what they hope will be a “sticky” enough service
bundle that would entice customers to stay, even after the prices for the
individual elements of the bundle go back up in a year’s time.
This announcement spurred SBC Communications to announce its own foray
into Triple Play territory. SBC announced they would invest from four to six
billion dollars over the next five years to upgrade and expand their fiber
network. This network would be capable of delivering digital TV,
super-high-speed broadband, and voice over IP telephony services to
residential and small business customers.
“Fiber technologies and IP-based services will enable a communications
revolution, allowing consumers and businesses to experience integrated
video, data, and voice services beyond what can be provided over any network
today,” said Edward E. Whitacre Jr., SBC chairman and CEO.
For $34.95 per month, customers receive unlimited local and long-distance
service, caller ID, call waiting, call return, three-way calling, call
forwarding, and emergency 911 services.
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