[Satellite TODAY 10-01-09] By 2014, 40.1 million TV households around the globe will be subscribers of tier 1 telco IPTV services, according to an IMS Research report released Sept. 29.
   The report, “IPTV: A Global Market Analysis,” states that teir 1 telcos have the advantages of both scalability and the imminent opportunity for return on investment that has placed forerunners like AT&T and France Telecom in a favorable position in the pay-TV environment.
   “Not only will AT&T and France Telecom continue to see uptake in their acquisition of subscribers, but China Telecom, BBTV, NTT, FREE, Neuf Cegetel, Telefonica’s Imagenio and BT will also see extraordinary uptake of their IPTV services,” Rebecca Kurlak, IMS research analyst and author of the study, said in a statement.
    Kurlak also said Tier 2 and 3 telcos will continue to experience subscriber growth as well. In 2008, tier 2 and tier 3 telcos comprised almost 46 percent of subscribers. However, Kurlak forecasts that small telcos will only garner close to 23 million TV households by the end of 2014, half the potential of what tier 1 telcos are anticipated to achieve