Jeff Kagan: Why Cable TV’s struggle is a self-fulfilling prophecy (Part 2)

December 17, 2024 at 08:00 AM EST

Cable TV is a three-part business. Typically, in a two-part business, when the customer and the company are the only two parts, if the customer complains the company can listen, and lower prices or fix the problem before it negatively impacts them.

However, if the customer complains to their cable TV provider, there is little that can be done. The reason is cable TV providers must buy from content creators who do not hear from the disgruntled customer.

That means there is no downward pricing pressure. The content producers keep charging more.

And that was the straw which ultimately broke the camel’s back.

Xfinity, Spectrum, Altice, Cox and others struggle with new competition

Today, many smaller cable TV competitors apparently have less than ten-percent market share for cable. So, they are leaving the space. They will focus on broadband, wireless and streaming services. Not cable television.

Unfortunately, I also predict other cable TV providers including the big guns like Comcast Xfinity, Charter Spectrum, Altice USA, Cox and countless smaller firms are heading in the same direction.

In fact, the name Xfinity and Spectrum were created to label these companies more than just cable TV.

You see, we call this the cable television sector, but cable TV is no longer their primary service. In fact, it has not been in quite a long time.

So, what is? The primary service of cable TV companies is broadband. They offer cable TV, streaming, wireless and more, but broadband is top offering.

And this is the problem the industry created all by itself.

FWA wireless broadband means wireless companies now compete with cable TV

Next, the broadband business, which is the primary service cable TV companies use for their main service is under new and intense competition.

Wireless carriers are using FWA to offer wireless broadband at a lower cost to the customer.

This will only increase pressure on the cable TV companies. Just like streaming services are eating away at cable TV market share, less expensive and wireless broadband threatens to do the same thing to wireline broadband.

You see, every industry, every technology and every company has a life span. Companies and technologies grow and lead for a while. Then things change. The growth-curve expands until it crests, then falls.

Companies in the wireless industry have shown this to be true. Remember when Motorola led the wireless space for decades? Next it was Blackberry and others. Then it was Apple iPhone and Google Android.

Each time a new technology was introduced, a new player became the leader sending the old leaders to the back of the pack.

Leading companies built on one reality often have a hard time adjusting to or creating the next growth wave.

This and more are parts of the reason the cable TV industry is shrinking and disappearing from the marketplace.

Cable TV needs to create their next growth wave

Cable TV has two challenges. They both need to not only slow customer loss but they need to start new growth waves.

Here is an idea. They can compete with the new broadband threat from FWA and wireless carriers, by using wireless DOCSIS to do the same.

These are the kind of out-of-the-box ideas cable TV needs today.

What is the next, hot growth wave for cable television?

Beyond that, what is the next big hurrah for the cable television industry?

Over the past twenty years cable TV has re-jiggered the playing field time and time again just to slow their losses. There didn’t seem to be focus on growth. Maybe I am wrong, but the result was they are struggling today.

Their future could be to manage various streaming services, and broadband, both wireless and wire line, and wireless services and more.

Cable TV needs to stand up, be strong, be proud, center stage, discussing the problems and the solutions.

This is a self-created problem that cable TV has been wrestling with for the last two decades.

This is part two of a two-part column.

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Jeff Kagan: Why Cable TV’s struggle is a self-fulfilling prophecy (Part 2)

Xfinity, Spectrum, Altice, Cox and others struggle with new competition

FWA wireless broadband means wireless companies now compete with cable TV

Cable TV needs to create their next growth wave

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