AT&T Will Hit 10% Video Penetration in December 2008

AT&T now says it will end the year with more than one million U-verse (multi-channel video) subscribers. The company expects to surpass that milestone in mid-December. That is important for people who track progress telcos are making in the video market, which is the mirror image of telcos losing voice customer share to cable companies.

At that level, AT&T will have surpassed 10 percent penetration within one year when we begin marketing operations. That itself is a milestone on the way to stable long-term penetration for wired network providers, which has in some other cases reached 30 percent or higher levels in a few markets where there is robust multi-channel video competition. Verizon has attained that level in some of its FiOS video markets, for example.

Most telcos probably think they will get to 20 percent in several years. Verizon already has hit about 24 percent penetration where it offers FiOS video. On average FiOS TV achieves 17 percent penetration in just 12 months and over 26 percent penetration within two years, Verizon reported in the third quarter of 2008.