Despite a near quadrupling in subscribers in 2007, Internet protocol television (IPTV) is not stealing customers from satellite television in the Americas, at least for now, according to market research firm iSuppli. The number of IPTV subscribers in North and South America expanded to 1.8 million in 2007, up 257.1% from 501,000 in 2006.
The vast majority of those subscribers were in the North American region, specifically in the United States. US telcos and leading IPTV providers Verizon and AT&T collectively reached 1.2 million subscribers at the end of the fourth quarter of 2007, up 294.9% from 296,000 in the fourth quarter of 2006. AT&T"s U-Verse service accounted for 231,000 of those subscribers, while Verizon had 943,000.