It also has an enticing lineup of entertainment and, particularly, sporting content, including near-time and real-time Premiership Football (soccer, that is). (See BT Pushes Soccer Service, BT Vision Adds Content, BT Signs Up Universal, and BT Signs Up HBO for IPTV.)

    The new British soccer season begins in August, so the uptake of BT Vision subscriptions in the current quarter (July-September) will provide an early indication as to the service's potential in competition with its main rivals, satellite broadcaster BSkyB Group plc and cable giant Virgin Media (Nasdaq: VMED - message board), both of which offer voice, broadband, TV, and video-on-demand services. (See BSkyB Updates on Q4, Virgin Media Revises Guidance, and Bell Sounds for British Broadband Brawl.)

    Verwaayen also flagged,with just the briefest of mentions, the next major challenge for its BT Vision service (after attracting customers) -- the introduction of interactive services. That would open up all sorts of revenue-generating opportunities, from voting, to gambling, to buying multimedia files, and the creation of user-generated content.