The "100 million" claim comes from french telecom equipment manufacturer Alcatel, who sees significant growth considering current IPTV subscriptions sit around 3 million. Internet Protocol Television, (essentially TV over the net) has had mild success worldwide, mostly in Europe and Asia. It is talked about with an air of inevitability, but seems to be impractical under the speed of our current broadband connections.

Considering Alcatel manufactures the equipment used in IPTV setups, I take their estimate with a grain of salt. They want it to be true, so they stand up and pronounce their lofty goal as some kind of fact. Normally, this sort of corporate market speak bugs me, but in this case I really hope they are right.

The idea of IPTV has a lot of appeal for me. combining television with broadband has a lot of advantages, including surfing the web on your TV, interactive programming, and cheaper overall cost. I would love an affordable, reliable IPTV solution, but that just doesn't seem to be coming in the next 4 years.

According to the article linked below, several of the early IPTV providers are cutting back initial roll out plans. Many complain of bottlenecks in the system causing a slower, and therefor less TV-like experience. It's just not something I see 100 million people signing up for any time soon