This morning Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) introduced a new term to the populous with Home Enterstayment – a term to describe families that are choosing to watch movies and shows at home ─ rather than an expensive night out. In fact, the term is so groundbreaking it hadn’t even made it into Wikipedia as of 4 p.m. EST on Nov. 3.

Lately, the media seems to be in portmanteau [to blend two (or more) words] overdrive as this word follows quickly on the heels of another annoying (and over used) portmanteau ─ “staycation” ─ not to mention those associated with celebrity couples or politics.

In the case of Verizon, it is using this term to promote new offers related to its FiOS TV service, primarily offering 90 days of free premium movie channels for signing up as a new customer by the end of the year, as well as discounts on its Home Media DVR product.

I’m not sure this term will find widespread adoption, especially since I could not find any other references to it on the Web. But my advice to Verizon would be to follow the K.I.S.S. principle and issue a press release that simply promotes its offers. Although the term did get my attention, it was for the wrong reasons, provoking a “you’ve got to be kidding” reaction.

Is it possible that since these families have chosen a “staycation” they might just have a little extra money to actually leave their house for entertainment? After all, the new Bond movie will only be shown in theatres. So if you want to save some money, go to a matinee and support your local theaters (and the economy) and not just Verizon.

Teresa Mastrangelo is principal analyst at [broadbandtrends, a service of The Windsor Oaks Group LLC, which is an independent market research and consulting firm specializing in the coverage of network transformation activity related to broadband infrastructure and services, including IPTV, VoIP and NGN.

As I woke up this morning and saw the global markets in turmoil, I could only think of the song “Black Friday” from Steely Dan: “When Black Friday comes, I'll stand down by the door...” It has been a crazy month for the economy, with news of doom and gloom perpetuating all types of media – at this stage the only good news is dropping gas prices and a stronger dollar.

So far (fingers crossed), Telecom seems to be fairly resilient. Although it is early in the earnings reporting season, most results for Telecom companies (both service providers and infrastructure) have been fairly positive, but there are underlying currents of concerns. Let’s look at AT&T (T).

AT&T demonstrated strong wireless net addition (although they are down from the same period last year), and a better quality customer (higher ARPU), however, most of it was driven by iPhone frenzy. In addition, they took a $900M expense associated with subsidizing the iPhone. The question is whether iPhone momentum will continue. U-verse offered promise, as subscriptions were up 42 percent over 2Q08, but broadband net additions remained anemic (down 70 percent from the same period last year). To add fuel to the fire, fixed line decline continues at an accelerating rate, down more than 10 percent year-over-year. Although AT&T states that U-verse is helping slow fixed line churn, it is losing five times as many fixed lines subscribers, as it is adding U-verse subscribers.

I have no doubt that AT&T will hit its 1 million target for U-verse, and will likely see an increase in subscribers in the fourth quarter with its $200 cash back offer. But it will cost them, and if the consumer wireline and enterprise markets continue to see declining revenues – telecom might finally find itself playing a role in another Black day...

Teresa Mastrangelo is principal analyst at broadbandtrends, a service of The Windsor Oaks Group LLC, which is an independent market research and consulting firm specializing in the coverage of network transformation activity related to broadband infrastructure and services, including IPTV, VoIP and NGN.

This week EMBARQ announced that customers no longer have to call the customer service number to get all of their questions answered; now they can just go to YouTube with the launch of the YouTube Channel, featuring instructional videos to help answer some of its top customer service inquiries.

EMBARQ, citing media statistics about how many people watch online video, wants to leverage this medium, because it believes this is what customers want and this is where its customers are – online.

According to the press release, “Customers can visit the channel to watch how-to videos on a variety of topics such as how to install High-Speed Internet.” I find that particularly interesting, because if I am looking at installing High-Speed Internet, I probably can’t watch anything on YouTube to begin with!

Additionally, this move also seems to disregard its long-term, committed customers – those who are keeping their fixed line service. I am pretty sure my parents won’t visit YouTube for their customer service issues.

Finally, the site simply needs better organization; it is difficult to determine what I would want and/or need to view.

To promote its new channel, EMBARQ is also launching a video contest. According to EMBARQ it takes approximately 48 seconds to load a web page over a dial-up connection. As such, they believe there are better things that can be done with those 48 seconds and wants to know what YOU can do. The winning entry will win $5,000 and a year of free EMBARQ High-Speed Internet. The first 50 people to upload a qualifying video will win $50, and the five video finalists win a Flip Video Ultra Camcorder by Pure Digital.

I wonder if they realize that I can probably change service providers in 48 seconds.

Teresa Mastrangelo is principal analyst at broadbandtrends, a service of The Windsor Oaks Group LLC, which is an independent market research and consulting firm specializing in the coverage of network transformation activity related to broadband infrastructure and services, including IPTV, VoIP and NGN.