The Diffusion Group has released a study indicating that telephone carriers have a slight lead over cable companies when it comes to the triple play bundled service market.

An April 2006 survey conducted by the research firm suggests that 33% of U.S. adults would rather bundle their services with a local telecom company. 29% said they would bundle with a cable provider, while 30% had no preference.

There are sufficient numbers of ambivalent or dissatisfied cable and DBS subscribers that a competitive telco triple-play offering even slight cost advantages could be disruptive to the market balance, said Diffusion Group analyst, Dale Gilliam III, in a prepared statement. This is good news to telcos looking to offer their own video services and triple-play packages.

The fact that such a large number of customers had no preference, meanwhile, suggests that there isn`t a lot of loyalty in the pay-TV market. If telecom and IPTV providers can maintain a slight cost advantage, they will likely be a very disruptive force in the world of video entertainment.