CenturyTel, a Louisiana based tier 2 telecom carrier, has announced their intentions for the 69 700 MHz spectrum licenses they obtained in the recent FCC auction. CenturyTel says the 700 MHz spectrum provides them the "opportunity to deliver wireless voice and broadband data to a significant percentage of our current customer base, making CenturyTel the only on-net provider of both fixed and wireless broadband in many of our markets." Apparently, we can count a new wireless competitor in much of CenturyTel's current footprint. Their 700 MHz footprint provides wireless overlap to approximately 53% of their local exchange areas. "This spectrum is well suited for serving less densely populated markets and should enable us to leverage our existing network assets to offer our customers a compelling range of wireless and fixed-line voice and broadband products," said Glen F. Post, III, CenturyTel chairman and CEO.

Embarq announced the availability of a new online video store, available through their myembarq.com web portal. The broadband video on demand store will offer more than 5,000 movies, 5,000 music videos and 2,000 TV shows that can be rented on a pay-per-view basis, download to own, or downloaded to burn onto a DVD. The cost to rent titles on a pay-per-view basis is $1.99 to $3.99 each, and each title will be available for a single 24 hour viewing window within 30 days after rental. Purchase prices for new videos are expected to be for $19.99, with older titles for less. Embarq’s broadband video store is powered through Cinemanow. Embarq joins fellow independent telco, CenturyTel, with a recently launched Internet video product. Qwest has also stated they intend to pursue a broadband Internet strategy, and will forgo an IPTV powered subscription video model.

CenturyTel and Akimbo have announced a partnership in which CenturyTel will make Akimbo's 8,000 Internet based VOD titles available to CenturyTel's 500K plus broadband subscribers. The news, first reported by Multichannel News, illustrates CenturyTel's continuing strategy of adding entertainment value to their DSL products. We reported back in October how CenturyTel launched a PC based NetVideo offering. This recent Akimbo announcement expands on these earlier efforts. This is Akimbo's first major announcement since shifting strategy earlier this year and going with a new set-top-boxless solution for distribution of their content library. Akimbo is actively courting service providers like CenturyTel who are looking to add entertainment value to their broadband services. CenturyTel is taking a leadership position in exploring PC based video as a potential competitive differentiator for broadband.

CenturyTel announced the launch of BroadbandTV to markets in 25 states. The service will provide 24 channels of real time, live television, delivered to the PC. There is also a PC VOD option with “thousands of titles.” Content choices include news, weather, sports, history, financial reports, comedy, children’s programs, movies, and TV classics. The content is delivered by both traditional media outlets like Fox News and A&E, as well as NetVideo content providers including companies like blip.tv. CenturyTel will charge $19.95/month for the service and $.99/title for VOD.

This is an interesting development and represents one of the largest and most robust NetVideo deployments by a U.S. telecom carrier. Despite the exploding popularity of NetVideo (delivery of video via the Internet), there have been few deployments of this magnitude among U.S. telecom carriers. NetVideo innovation is occurring rapidly, both from a technology perspective and in content availability. NetVideo is one of those “scratch your head” business opportunities, because the business model is not clearly defined. All broadband carriers are constantly looking for applications and features that provide differentiation and competitive advantage. NetVideo may be such an application. Some opinions see NetVideo as a complimentary service to traditional subscription multi-channel video services. More enthusiastic views see NetVideo eventually replacing traditional content distribution methods. CenturyTel launched this application a while ago, and maybe they have learned something. Others really question whether there is a subscription model for BroadbandTV. Thanks to CenturyTel, we’re about to find out.

View a demo of CenturyTel's BroadbandTV application here.

CenturyTel announced at a press conference last week that they will be launching IPTV service in the Columbia, MO market sometime in September. The details are a little sketchy, but we did confirm with a company spokesman that the launch is on track, and will initially focus on the Columbia market. The spokesman was unable to confirm future roll out plans. This launch makes CenturyTel the largest independent telco to launch IPTV.

There has been much speculation about larger IOCs and their IPTV plans. Both CenturyTel and Embarq have been relatively tight lipped about their IPTV plans. They both utilize DBS partnerships for current triple play offerings. CenturyTel cited their need to more effectively compete with triple play offerings from cable companies. They also launched a BroadbandTV product, utilizing the MobiTV platform, this past summer.

CenturyTel and Echostar renewed their strategic partnership to offer DISH Network as a part of CenturyTel’s triple play bundle. Both parties seem to be quite pleased with the relationship, although no official subscriber numbers or projections were released with the announcement. This development begs the question, what exactly is CenturyTel’s long term triple play strategy? Have they decided that an IPTV or other wireline video solution is not in their long term plans? That would seem to go counter to the telecom industry’s thinking on this issue. For now, CenturyTel and Embarq seem to be the two carriers of note who appear to be “digging in” with a DBS partner. Maybe they know something everyone else doesn’t.

Read the CenturyTel press release for the details.