Video Hasn't Been Kind to Telcos

Later on, the company bought two major cable TV systems in order to create a synergized broadband giant. But skeptical investors decided a sale of the cable business to cable operator Comcast (CMCSA) made more sense than trying to pull off the convergence plans.

Arms Race

In 1998, Bell Atlantic and SBC each launched its own marketing and distribution agreement with satellite operators DirecTV and USSB (since merged into DirecTV). "These agreements allow us to offer our customers local phone service and digital satellite TV service from one provider," said an SBC executive, according to Media Daily. "This is another important step in our move to become a full-service, one-stop provider of communications services for our customers."

But if Bell Atlantic, SBC or DirecTV found these marketing agreements successful, they appear not to have told anyone in subsequent years. Those deals "apparently never really gained that much traction," said a DirecTV spokesman. "The majority of DirecTV customers still go to a retail store, be it Circuit City or Best Buy, to purchase equipment and then subscribe to the service."

In 2000, BellSouth (BLS) launched its own wireless video service as a prelude to launching its own DBS service. The company announced a shutdown by the end of that year.

More recently, satellite operators have had relatively little luck expanding into the high-speed data services using DSL technology employed by telcos. DirecTV launched its own DSL service in April 2001, but shut it down late last year.

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