Bundling of TV services with broadband on the up

Bundling of TV services as part of fixed-broadband offerings is becoming more common across developed markets, according to the International Telecommunications Union’s Measuring the Information Society 2016 report.

Basic TV services are included in 24% of 2016 fixed-broadband offers across OECD countries, as compared to 19% in 2011, according to the report.

By comparison, 41% of all fixed-broadband offerings in the OECD countries including standalone services included fixed-voice, as against 33% in 2011.

While bundling is a key trend in developed countries, watching TV over the web is growing in popularity particularly in developing nations, according to the report.

Watching web TV is among the top three internet activities in 3% of developing countries and among the top five activities in 7% of developing countries. Web TV does not make the top five activities in any developed country, where internet use is spread across a wider range of activities spanning email, social media, entertainment – including music, movies and games – reading newspapers and books, government services and getting information about goods and services.

The report cites Cisco research that predicts IP video will account for 82% of all IP Traffic by 2020, up from 70% in 2015.