'Watch out BT and Sky' warns ntl COO, is Berkett being a berk!

[popper]

http://www.dtg.org.uk/news/news.php?...ss=193&id=1755

"From July we will be the only quadruple play in the market. We have been in triple play for a decade and we know more about bundling, packaging and going to the market with multiple products in a converged world than anybody else. So watch out."

if thats his line of thinking, god help us

'" Watch out BT and Sky' warns ntl COO


Consolidated UK cable operator ntl has thrown down the gauntlet to rivals BT and BSkyB, warning them to "look out" as the converged services player prepares to offer a quadruple-play of fixed and mobile communications, plus high-speed internet access and digital television.

"This is real, this is happening, so BT and Sky look out," said ntl chief operating officer Neil Berkett in an interview with MediaGuardian. Berkett acknowledged the cable group still has a "huge amount of work" to do, but was confident its worst days were over.

"The economic model struggled but it's not struggling any more. Our advantage is that we have the biggest pipe [into UK homes] and nobody can beat us on that. We have to turn that into having the most compelling applications and the most compelling content," said Berkett.

In May new ntl Incorporated CEO Steve Burch said the merged group combining ntl and Telewest would shed 6,000 posts as part of a restructuring aimed at saving at least £250m by the end of 2007.

A month earlier Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Mobile agreed to be acquired by ntl in a revised deal valuing the mobile telco at £962.4m. Virgin Mobile is Britain's largest virtual mobile network operator, with more than 4m customers. Ntl will be able to use the Virgin brand for 30 years under a licensing agreement which will generate royalties for Branson's Virgin Group of £8.5m each year.

Berkett told MediaGuardian the entire ntl network would be ready to offer video-on-demand services. High-definition TV and digital TV recorders will follow.

The Virgin rebranding would take place some time next year, once customer services have been improved.

"There is no way we will launch the brand until the experience that the customer gets is as close to a Virgin experience as possible. We have to recognise that we must deliver the customer experience when we launch, otherwise we will invest a huge amount in one brand and the mobile transaction and it will be wasted," added Berkett.

Berkett would not be drawn on whether ntl planned to give away broadband access for free, following free bundled broadband offerings from Carphone Warehouse and Orange which are expected to be followed later this year by BSkyB.

He continued: "From July we will be the only quadruple play in the market. We have been in triple play for a decade and we know more about bundling, packaging and going to the market with multiple products in a converged world than anybody else. So watch out."
Lovelace Consulting | 26.06.2006

[Graham M]

eh? Im not following what you think's wrong with this...

[popper]

just from a first reading, it seems berkett is under the impression that he has outdone/can out do both Sky and BT with his bundling, packaging when in fact it is he, as NTL cheaf, that is far to lacking in content for the price, in even the current NTL 'bundling, packaging' department.

sky have lots of content of their own, you can download your VOD to your PC, BT are buying in their content and are currently in the process of gathering their own content, ntl let you (if your on the 20% tw bit only) download VOD to their STB only, no sign of VOD direct to your PC , and have as their own content ?, perhaps uktv ?, and who (end users)really wants to pay for that as your main content ?.

hell, even Channel4 are now leting you stream direct to your PC
http://www.cableforum.co.uk/article/...live-streaming

and ntl come back with 'ntl to offer 24/7 video of Big Brother'
http://www.cableforum.co.uk/article/...of-big-brother

[etccarmageddon]

yeah I think he's a bit daft if he thinks offering mobile phones is a big deal.

[eddie00001]

Why would you want to stream to your PC though, would much rather VOD via the STB & TV. Tried Sky's version of downloading to your PC, its was too slow, and poor quality.

[Shaun]

Originally Posted by etccarmageddon

yeah I think he's a bit daft if he thinks offering mobile phones is a big deal.

Does he not realise that those that have blacklisted his company as a provider now just have even less choice in the mobile market. Great achievement Ntl - cheers

[etccarmageddon]

I just can't see anyone giving a toss about NTL offering TV/BB/landline/Mobile compared to TV/BB/landline. who cares? mobiles have loads of deals on them these days so 4 play is nothing groundbreaking.

[DaggaDagga]

NTL may have offered triple-play for years, but they've never converged any of them. For example, you can't...

Download NTL TV programmes on your NTL broadband (e.g. Sky).
Pick up NTL phone voicemail via your NTL broadband (e.g. Vonage).
See who's calling on your NTL phone line in an onscreen message on your NTL set top box (e.g. Windows Media Centre).

So, as they haven't converged any of what they already have, I don't see what difference having a fourth will make.

P.S. They've paid £962.4m for a virtual company that has 4m subscribers, so they've paid £240.60 per subscriber. They don't have a network, so they have to continually pay much of the revenue for that, and the brand name costs extra too. In fact, they actually own very very little. Dicky Branston must be laughing all the way to his private island.

[jtwn]

Its all just propaganda, if they don't offer something revolutionary price wise its not going to thieve them any more customers off the other big boys in the mobile world and prob isn't going to earn them a mint or enough customers in the market for BT and Sky to start quivering.

[injuneer]

This is what big corporations do, hype up the service and hope people will begin to believe it! They think we're all stupid, some of us are not so easily fooled, though there again...........

[Chrysalis]

hes talking out his a**

triple play isnt complete, vod isnt complete.

ntl need to learn to finish what they started.

sky and bt have a reputation for delivering what they promise.

[Rob]

The most telling part of that article is the line:

We have to turn that into having the most compelling applications and the most compelling content

In other words quadruple play is nothing if ntl don't actually do something with it. Other than offering triple play services, what added value to ntl bring to the broadband, TV and phone services, nothing that I can see that truly ties them together in service and performacne terms. NTL rely on others to provide the TV content, and excepting their own tiny presence of a website, the internet services are standalone too, as is phone. So why should adding mobile suddenly propel them into a new arena.

Come on ntl show us why mobile was so important to your strategy. Are you going to integrate call diversion from home to mobile and back again? What's up your sleeve that this will be so groundbreaking?

[Shaun]

They need to come up with killer applications like combined Voicemail. An inbox you can access through your STB, home phone, mobile and PC.

Can't see them ever getting all their systems to talk together like that accross all the platforms aftgerall tehy asre still having trouble getting their billing systems to work, aren't they?

[Downloads]

Originally Posted by DaggaDagga

NTL may have offered triple-play for years, but they've never converged any of them. For example, you can't...

Download NTL TV programmes on your NTL broadband (e.g. Sky).
Pick up NTL phone voicemail via your NTL broadband (e.g. Vonage).
See who's calling on your NTL phone line in an onscreen message on your NTL set top box (e.g. Windows Media Centre).

So, as they haven't converged any of what they already have, I don't see what difference having a fourth will make.

P.S. They've paid £962.4m for a virtual company that has 4m subscribers, so they've paid £240.60 per subscriber. They don't have a network, so they have to continually pay much of the revenue for that, and the brand name costs extra too. In fact, they actually own very very little. Dicky Branston must be laughing all the way to his private island.

Didn't Branson take less shares than everyone else to make sure the deal went through if i remember rightly?

I think it was a good deal for both parties. NTLs name is dirt and Virgin's is roses. Not owning a network though doesn't really matter, its the money that it generates and the money for renting doesn't take most of the profit. While not big i think the last i read Virgins profit was 50mil. Not bad for an almost virtual company, Vodaphone owns lots of networks and makes a whopping loss every year!

I think NTL whilst not gaining a great deal of assets did potentially gain a great name and some much needed expertise in customer service, which i think everyone will agree is what they need most!

[paul11974]

Still no video on demand in bromley maybee when ntl launch there 4play all ntl customers will get it ! or will we get it one at a time ......stop talking and start delivering mr ntl