CHICAGO – With 33% market share in the Winnipeg TV market, MTS Allstream is ready to take its MTS TV service to other areas of the province.
The company’s consumer markets president Kelvin Shepherd told the crowd attending IPTV World North America in Chicago Tuesday that since the digital television service now passes 96% of homes in Winnipeg and has reportedly over 80,000 customers, it’s time to move beyond the capital.
(The company is already offering television beyond Winnipeg in 13 southern Manitoba communities, since it purchased Valley Cable Vision in 2006.)
“Our market share objective is actually somewhat ahead of what our business case predicted,” said Shepherd of the company’s success in Winnipeg since its 2003 launch.
To boost that market share, MTS TV will be building on its digital and interactive applications not offered by Shaw, the incumbent cable operator, and “:we will be expanding beyond Winnipeg,” he said. However, he declined to say when the company might begin such a build.
As for those additional services, the company is working on developing its local content made available to customers via its Winnipeg On Demand platform. Shepherd also said customers have fallen in love with its Caller ID on the TV screen application and often cite it as their favourite interactive application, along with e-mail on TV.
Shepherd went on to say that television has become key to its offer and has allowed the company to hang on to many wireline customers and expand its high speed Internet as well. Eighty percent of MTS TV customers also take the company’s high speed internet service, he said.
“We’ve had quite a bit lower loss rate than other providers who don’t have TV as part of their bundle,” added Shepherd.
And what’s next? Look for MTS to upgrade technically and to get closer to some over-the-top video over-the-Internet providers to add more functionality – and additional content – to its customers’ TV screens. The company hasn’t yet signed on with an over the top provider, “but we will,” said Shepherd.
As well, he noted, “we’ve pretty much reached the end for this technology,” he said of the company’s current vDSL solution, adding MTS has already invested in Microsoft’s Media platform to grow the service, as the company announced in January.
