Swiss IPTV 'won't be profitable until 2009'

Swiss IPTV service Bluewin TV is not expected to produce profits until the end of 2009. Ueli Dietiker, head of Swisscom's Fixnet division, told Swiss newspaper Handelzeitung: "We certainly won't see profits over the next two years."

Dietiker said the service—launched last November after a delay of more than a year—needed between 200,000 to 250,000 customers before it became profitable.

Bluwin TV—which offers a triple-play of 100 digital TV channels, 500 video-on-demand titles and pay-per-view programming, plus high-speed internet and telephony—has now been installed in 40,000 households, Dietiker said, with "about 1,000 to 2,000 households [joining] every week".

Based on that take-up rate "we would get there by the end of 2009", added Dietiker.

Last month Swisscom took control of Italian telecommunications and IPTV provider Fastweb. Swisscom spent €3.1bn acquiring Fastweb, and took on its debt of €1.1bn.

Swisscom also last month took a 35% stake in Geneva-based video-on-demand (VOD) specialist Transmedia for an undisclosed sum.