A panel moderated by Parks Associates Director of Research Brett Sappington was an occasion for attendees at CES 2012 to see a measuring stick applied to this category. An expert in the TV Everywhere phenomenon, Sappington pointed to a recent growth spurt, saying that the number of operators offering multi-screen has seen a “dramatic increase from July 2009.”As for availability, Parks found that 81 percent of consumers in the U.S. were able to get a TV Everywhere through Pay TV provider. In Western and Eastern Europe that number was 40 percent and 12 percent, respectively.

One important development is that as operators have made these systems increasingly available, more and more have begun to compete with each. “Some are now offering it outside of their (territories),” Sappington said.

In Italy, three service providers have now become virtual MSOs: Telecom Italia, FastWeb and Mediaset. Sappington said that United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based Etisalat has “cut a deal with LG to be able to offer linear and video on demand to anyone in the Middle East and North Africa.”
Sappington also pointed to DishNetwork’s purchase of the Blockbuster video rental business and ongoing rumors of Verizon’s interest in acquiring Netflix as indicators that multi-screen is no longer simply a matter of incumbents competing against new media aggregators.

From the article, "Three-screen Grows Up" by Jonathan Tombes

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