[Satellite Today 12-15-08] SES Americom is abandoning the IPTV market North America next year, after it revealed only 10,000 subscribers were accessing IPTV services through its IPTV initiative, IP-Prime, SES announced Dec. 15.
    IP-Prime was launched in June 2006 and will shut down by July 31. SES Americom blamed the exit of the service on the slow adoption of IPTV by small- and medium-sized telecom operators as well as the difficult market outlook for this kind of service.
    “In line with its plan, IP-Prime has contracted IPTV signal delivery agreements with 70 small telecom operators, of which 37 have so far reached commercial stage,” Robert Bednarek, CEO, SES Americom-New Skies, said in a statement. “However, with a subscriber base of less than 10,000 at the end of November and after more than two years of service, the consumer uptake is insufficient to justify continuing operations.”