| Increasing competition in the recent telecommunications market has encouraged cable and telephone companies to engage in the triple-play strategy through which television, telephone, and broadband Internet services are marketed in a bundle. As this practice becomes more prevalent in both sectors, this study examines the potential determinants of its use by those industries. In addition, this study explores how the triple-play strategy benefits cable and telephone companies, assesses market performance of triple-play providers, and investigates how the triple-play bundle influences market entry in the communications market due to potential effects of bundling on deterring entry of rivals. A panel data analysis using a US dataset from 2000 to 2007 was employed in this study.;For the drivers of the use of the triple-play strategy, the results of the regression analysis indicate that market competition, platform competition, and market potential factors influence the practice of triple-play in the cable industry. Also, market competition, platform competition, market potential, and firm size factors influence the practice of triple-play in the telephone industry. In the application of Porter's generic strategy in the triple-play market, cable firms tend to employ a differentiation strategy while telephone firms tend to remain in a cost leadership position.;For the impact of triple-play on market performance of the triple-play providers, the result of the regression indicates that the triple-play strategy generally enhances market performance in the cable and telephone industry. In addition, switching costs tend to improve market performance for the triple-play providers. Increased market competition is likely to negatively influence market performance of triple-play providers, while platform competition contributes to improve data service performance in the cable and telephone industry. In addition, cable and telephone companies show superior performance in their core services compared to their other two services, which support the resource-based view of strategy.;For the impact of triple-play on market entry, the result of the regression indicates that the triple-play bundle influences market entry positively but at decreasing rates in the high-speed fixed broadband market. This implies that the triple-play bundle enables firms to have a competitive advantage over single service providers, which may result in deterring entry to some degree. Local loop unbundling regulation has an impact on market entry jointly with the impact of triple-play. |
