Verizon: The 7th Largest MSO?

9:45 AM -- With its latest quarterly report behind it, Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) now qualifies as the seventh largest cable MSO in the U.S. It added 299,000 FiOS TV customers in 1Q09, bringing its total TV subscribers to 2.2 million. By my estimation, that places Verizon just behind Bright House Networks in terms of video subscribers.

Unfortunately for Verizon, moving forward into the top five will prove more difficult. While the sixth spot held by Brighthouse is in Verizon’s reach within 12 to 18 months, the fifth spot is held by its cable competitor nemesis, Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC)

Counting both digital and basic subs, Cablevision is north of 5 million, and growing (albeit, not at the same rate as Verizon). I’ll never be mistaken for a mathematician, but by my math, Verizon will have to almost triple its current video subscriber count (DBS resale customers don’t count for this analysis) to dethrone Cablevision and join the top five MSO club.

Will it happen? Probably. But it will take some time, and Cablevision isn’t exactly sitting around twiddling its thumbs, waiting for Verizon to catch up.

— Bernardin Arnason, Managing Partner, Pivot Group , and Chairman, TelcoTV 2009

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Interested in learning more on this topic? Then come to TelcoTV 2009, the telecom industry’s premier event for the exploration of a comprehensive entertainment convergence strategy, to be staged in Orlando, Fla., November 10-12. For more information, or to register, click here.

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