The bMighty Blog -- Technology/Telecom

So you wanna know what is on TV? Well, the nation’s largest carriers have begun making hundreds of channels (Is anything really on?) available to small and medium businesses as well as consumers.

The battle between traditional telcos and cable TV providers has been intensifying. As a result, Verizon has been pumping a lot of time, effort, and money into its FiOS TV service, which delivers hundreds of channels to consumers. Recently, the company launched FiOS TV for Business, a subscription-television service delivered on the company’s fiber-optic network, and its potential customers include medical offices, banks, building lobbies, restaurants and taverns.

The service provides about 400 TV and music channels; a maximum of 30 high-definition channels; access to more than 10,000 video-on-demand titles each month, 70 percent of which are free; and an array of programming choices for Hispanic, African-American, Asian, Russian and other ethnic audiences. Pricing for FiOS TV for Business begins at $49.99 per month in most areas for small-business customers.

Increasingly, carriers are bundling video services along with voice, data and wireless plans and offering customers discounts in their attempt to woo them from competitors’ services. This is true with Verizon’s service, which features discounts depending on the type of services that customers have installed. In addition, FiOS’ Internet services run much faster than the company’s Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) services.

However, there are a couple of limitations with FiOS TV for Business. First, it is not available everywhere. Currently, the service is limited to select areas in 13 states: California, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas and Virginia. Second, most small and medium businesses do not need video services.

While many companies are not interested in Verizon’s new FiOS service, the carrier is a key supplier of voice and data services to small and medium businesses. The vendor, along with its competitors, will continue to develop more service plans for that market, which will result in lower pricing for businesses.

How much interest do you have in video services? How much would you be willing to pay for them? Would they be attractive to you as part of a service bundle?

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