4% of People use the Internet for TV: [21st Jul 2011]

A study by research company SNL Kagan has indicated that around 4% of US households will have substituted Internet video for their cable, satellite or telco TV services by the end of the year. This represent 4.5 million homes, which is 2 million more than the figures from 2010. They also expect that this figure will rise to 10% or 12.1 million household by the end of 2015. A report released by the firm this week states that while the figures seem low they are not inconsequential especially when it is considered that fewer people are subscribing to cable already. There has also been a slight drop in the numbers of people who are subscribing to multi-channel services which has fallen to 84% from 86% which was considered to be the potential peak.


A customer loyalty ranking of New Yorkers carried out by Brand Keys has found that AT&T was the top out of four other providers. Brand Keys had been asked by AT&T to conduct the survey to help understand how their customers felt about them in NY. The results showed that AT&T ranked number one when it came to their competitive, easy to understand plans, their performance and customer service. When it came to brand reputation and product design they were second. Robert Passikoff from Brand Keys has commented that it is a credit to AT&T that they have managed to differentiate themselves from others in the market. Meanwhile Tom DeVito from AT&T in NY has said that all staff put the customer as a first priority.


Democrat Senator Herb Kohl has called on the FCC to block the AT&T and T-mobile merger. He has commented in a letter to FCC boss Julius Genochowski that the acquisition could cause substantial harm to competition and could fly in the face of anti-trust law. He believes it should be blocked for these reasons. Kohl leads a senate subcommittee which looks into anti-trust issues and a hearing was held earlier this year on this matter. AT&T and T-Mobile both went before the committee to explain why they felt the proposal was good for customers. The Justice Department and the FCC are still looking into the merger and are yet to come to a decision.


T-Mobile has this week introduced new call plans aimed at those who want to save money and the environment by bringing their own phone with them. The value rate plans range from $39 for 500 minutes and unlimited texts each month to $75 for unlimited talk, text and web. Other options can be mixed and matched into the plan with data offerings of 2GB, 5GB and 10GB. There is no charging for using more than these amounts, as the service is simply throttled. Customers who would still like a new phone can pay $250 up front and then $15 a month for 20 months which will pay off the device and still allow them to take advantage of the cheaper monthly deals.


A recent paper published in the Journal of Applied Communication research has discovered that people who are free to work wherever they like are happier in their jobs than those forced to go to the office each day. The paper suggests that working from home offers more flexibility and helps the worker to balance work and family. There is also less stress associated with meetings and interruptions. Workers who are at home are also less likely to engage in office politics and this leads to more job satisfaction. It is thought that working from home is far from being isolating, in fact being away from other people may be desirable.