cable operators out of touch?
April 18, 2006 by Mary Wynne-Wynter
U.S. cable operators have a lot to be confident about. But they are facing a multitude of threats: IPTV, wireless, independent content providers, satellite, cord-cutting customers and municipal.
I'm fed up with arrogant leaders and suspect my feelings are shared by many citizens, consumers and broadband users. Perhaps cablecos can afford an arrogant stance towards their competitors but its a poor public image for them or for the telcos. While they publicly fight over turf and control, they lose customer focus and further erode loyalty. Anything they do (speed increase, intro offers) feels like they are just throwing the dog a bone. I want more for my $$.
April 17, 2006
Is Cable Out of Touch?
The U.S. cable industry has nothing to fear from anybody. Its plant is inherently broadband and interactive — no need for the exhorbitantly expensive upgrades that the inherently narrowband telcos must implement.
Cable systems can roll out any combination of new services in a heartbeat, crushing competition in the process. Satellite competitors don’t have a terrestrial network capable of offering voice and high-speed data.
VOD will trump anything the Internet can offer in terms of on-demand video programming. The government can’t justify a la carte or net neutrality or uneven franchising obligations.
If you attended the National Cable & Telecommunications Association convention last week, and didn’t know anything else about the broader communications marketplace, you’d believe all this. Apparently, cable operators do believe all of this.