TDC, No April Fool, Launches Free Music on Broadband, Cable and Mobile

| Apr 1, 2008 | Consumer Broadband Services - Europe | Competitive Intelligence Report
| Analyst: Bernt Ostergaard

Current Perspective: Very Positive
Vendor Importance: High
Market Impact: Very High

Event Summary

March 31, 2008 -- TDC has launched a music service offering unlimited access to music downloads in WMA and AAC formats to its Danish mobile, DSL broadband and YouSee cable customers, at no additional charge. Downloaded tracks will expire automatically if the customer terminates the subscription. TDC has signed with three international music companies, EMI, SONY BMG and Warner Music Denmark, as well as 27 independent labels to provide music covering 70% of the Danish music market.

Analytical Summary

• Current Perspective:Very positive on the TDC launch of PLAY music services across its broadband, cable and mobile portfolios. The service is innovative in several ways and it will put very hard competitive pressure on all parts of the Danish consumer market.

• Vendor Importance: High to TDC, which faces a plethora of full-service and discount service competitors in a commoditized broadband market. TDC needs to develop new revenue opportunities and it has taken the market-leading position in content services.

• Market Impact: Very high on the Danish broadband market, where competitors will face significant churn unless they can come up with similar ‘free’ content propositions. The ramifications of this event can also be expected in other European markets where incumbents face similar market conditions.

Recommended End User / Customer Actions

• TDC is turning a new page here and customers can expect many new interactive multimedia opportunities to emerge. However, it will not provide any better pricing when buying tracks than competing offerings from iTunes or Amazon, and the DRM-protected files will be more difficult to share with others than music on CDs or iPods.

• Danish broadband customers that are buying their music online today should certainly consider the TDC offering. While TDC may not have the cheapest broadband offering, DSL subscription price variations are limited and are quickly won back by reductions in the music-purchasing department.

• However, there are limitations to the offer; only certain types of broadband subscriptions or YouSee cable subscriptions, some types of music-enabled mobile handsets, and Windows PCs are eligible for the service. Customers should carefully investigate whether they have to invest in devices as well to get service access.

CLIENTS ONLY

Current Perspective

Competitive Positives and Concerns

Recommended Vendor Actions

| Client access - Full report in Consumer Broadband Services - Europe | More information

Top