triple play

A marketing term used by broadband service providers to describe the combination of voice, high-speed data, and television services over a single local loop.The term is a baseball analogy, referring to the very rare act in which the defense makes three outs on the same play. Some service providers use the term quadruple play to describe a triple play plus wireless services, although the baseball analogy breaks down at that point. Actually, the analogy broke down with the marketer who invented the term, as a triple play is a defensive play. A more appropriate term would be triple, which is a rare offensive play. Also, that would make the nonexistent defensive quadruple play a home run. See also broadband, local loop, and quadruple play.