Twin Valley Telephone (TVT) has chosen Minerva Networks, a provider of IP Television services, to provide video over DSL. The Kansas-based telco, which now supplies analog cable to its customers, will deploy Minerva's IPTV platform, also known as "1Link," instead of upgrading its existing fiber plant to digital.
Minerva's IP TV headend features the iTVManager that includes a Management Platform module and STB Client user interface to administer and manage IP-based video. Minerva says its platform helps offset the cost of broadband equipment and infrastructure more economically than Internet access alone.
Twelve telcos are already offering IP-based video services and Minerva expects that number will reach nearly twenty by the end of 2002. TVT projects a subscriber take rate upwards of 80 percent inside three years after 1Link rolls out late this year.
TVT's 1Link will have bundled voice, video and data services and will offer 60 video channels including broadcast, , pay-per-view and Internet access. The iTVManager uses Advanced Fibre Communications' Telliant 5000 multiservice switch for the networks' additional bandwith needs.
