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Cablevision CEO: We Could Someday Stop Offering TV

Cablevision CEO James Dolan this week acknowledged that "there could come a day" that the company stops offering TV services and just sells broadband. In a rare public interview for the CEO, Dolan tells the Wall Street Journal the industry is living in a "bubble" in regards to cable TV packages and pricing, and even goes so far as to point out that his grandkids often prefer Netflix to Cablevision's own services. From the report:

quote:
Mr. Dolan said that on the rare occasions he watches TV, it is often with his young children, who prefer to watch online video service Netflix, using Cablevision broadband.

He added that the cable-TV industry is in a "bubble" with its emphasis on packages of channels that people often don't want but are required to pay for, predicting it will mature "badly" as young people opt to watch online video rather than pay for traditional TV services.


While rather obvious observations, it's the first time in the history of the cable industry that a cable industry executive has acknowledged the inevitable shift (while also giving praise to a competitor), giving you an idea why his interviews tend to be so rare.

Granted Dolan's casual demeanor may be because Cablevision may no longer exist when that inevitable migration occurs. The company has seen the mass exodus of a major number of key executives over the last few years, with rumors of a possible acquisition by Time Warner Cable growing significantly stronger.
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devnuller
join:2006-06-10
Cambridge, MA

devnuller

Member

The network

With the way the overall infrastructure is paid for is this a good thing or a bad thing? Or is it just inevitable that broadband bills will pay for everything going forward - the network, customer care, truck rolls, etc vs triple play services. Also makes you wonder about usage based billing

norbert26
Premium Member
join:2010-08-10
Warwick, RI

1 recommendation

norbert26

Premium Member

Re: The network

thats right they will get their money one way or the other. if BB has to carry the load expect usage based billing to become standard and "fees" to rise accordingly.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

Re: The network

said by norbert26:

thats right they will get their money one way or the other. if BB has to carry the load expect usage based billing to become standard and "fees" to rise accordingly.

The last mile wire provider will get their money one way or another. If cable TV is going away, and broadband has to carry all the video, broadband prices will rise. Probably by using a pay per byte system.
Kamus
join:2011-01-27
El Paso, TX

1 recommendation

Kamus

Member

Re: The network

said by FFH5:

The last mile wire provider will get their money one way or another.

They've gotten their money "one way or another" for far too long now. It's high time we moved to something better than paying a toll for something that continues to drop in price (high speed networks) non stop.
But do not mourn for them when they die off. Because they can always take comfort in the billions they've made of consumers that had no other choice.
devnuller
join:2006-06-10
Cambridge, MA

devnuller

Member

Re: The network

Don't forget drop in price is offset with a rise in demand. The question is, is the price falling as fast as the capacity demand. Those that build networks and network equipment say no.

Now add everything moving to one revenue stream and you have a challenge... be careful what you wish for
dublin00
join:2005-12-29
Dublin, CA

dublin00 to FFH5

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to FFH5
No they won't, but the content providers will get their money one way or the other. The internet is used for too many things besides streaming, the last mile providers are in a bubble whose days are numbered and they know it. Why do you think Comcast merged with NBC? They can't raise broadband prices too much without incurring the wrath of Google, Microsoft, Apple, etc...

What I predict will happen is that the cost of online streaming whether movie or TV show rentals will soar to match theatre pricing. The days of renting movies online line for $3.99 will die replaced with $12 (substitute your local theatre ticket cost here) rental costs along with mandatory TV or streaming box mounted cameras that can count how many people are watching the movie or TV show in your home and charge you per-person. Evil yes, but you can already see that is the way the industry is headed.

mikedz4
join:2003-04-14
Weirton, WV

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the internet will be like cell phones in 5 years or less and usage based.
34764170 (banned)
join:2007-09-06
Etobicoke, ON

1 edit

34764170 (banned)

Member

Re: The network

Ya, how to go from something usable to something unusable. But what do you expect with so many sheeple.

Anonymous_
Anonymous
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join:2004-06-21
127.0.0.1

Anonymous_ to norbert26

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to norbert26
cable currently has 5,280 Mbit/s total bandwidth ( 1GHz systems)
that's a lot of Bandwidth. every one can have 200mbit connections. with 50mbit upstream
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT

BiggA

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Re: The network

Assuming there's no TV on it at all, or it's all running over IP.
BiggA

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to devnuller
They survived on cable TV alone. They can survive on BB alone. They just won't rake in the big bucks like with triple play. However, it is true that they have to maintain the physical plant. And I don't forsee traditional cable going anywhere anytime soon. The only thing that's clearly going away is phone service. Cell-only is the way to go.

contentking
@greenhost.nl

contentking

Anon

Another attempt to avoid paying paper

Lame re-transmitters of content are going to go down. Content producers are going to sell their content via Netflix and similar services anyway. Many of them (i.e. CBS) have their OWN on-line services - www.cbs.com . Content = King. Parasites on a back of Content are just parasites.

kontos
xyzzy
join:2001-10-04
West Henrietta, NY

kontos

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Re: Another attempt to avoid paying paper

said by contentking :

Lame re-transmitters of content are going to go down. Content producers are going to sell their content via Netflix and similar services anyway. Many of them (i.e. CBS) have their OWN on-line services - www.cbs.com . Content = King. Parasites on a back of Content are just parasites.

One problem that the 'Big-Content' people have to overcome is their huge overhead. They like the big cable companies because there is limited access to that distribution channel. The bug guys are screwed if they have to start to compete with some garage-based little guy that is able to get a decent video series available on Netflix. See what is happening to the big publishing companies, now that Amazon and B&N are allowing independent authors to upload their e-books.
Bob61571
join:2008-08-08
Washington, IL

Bob61571

Member

If James Dolan wants Cablevision to survive,

he could replace all that old coaxial cable with new fiber optic cable.
TBBroadband
join:2012-10-26
Fremont, OH

TBBroadband

Member

Re: If James Dolan wants Cablevision to survive,

Even if he did, he'd still be paying for TV, if he thinks that TV is going to end one day on his network, and wishes to keep the coax to run the Internet that could work out well for him. He would still free up a lot of resources and replacing the coax wouldn't be hard nor that costly for them; like it is Verizon.
34764170 (banned)
join:2007-09-06
Etobicoke, ON

1 edit

34764170 (banned)

Member

Re: If James Dolan wants Cablevision to survive,

If it isn't so "hard" and isn't so costly then why did Verizon do such a half assed job and didn't even complete the job either? Because it is hard and it is costly.

n2jtx
join:2001-01-13
Glen Head, NY

n2jtx

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History

James Dolan's father Charles Dolan was certainly prescient when it came to the cable industry. He started HBO and was also the first to offer cable service to areas where OTA reception was good. Until that time, cable systems were only installed in valleys and remote areas where OTA reception was not possible. Perhaps James is getting hints in his ear that it is time to look to the next revolution.
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

expired business model vs new business model.

the 500 channel universe was a hint of what was to come, but had the wrong concept of what was to replace it. napster, bittorrent, various p2p and later streaming technologies supplanted demand in physical media and will now do the same to the traditional cable-tv subscription model as well.

consumers want access to entire libraries of multi-media (VIDEO, MUSIC, AUDIOBOOKS, SOFTWARE, GAMING, TEXT, ETC), not to pick and choose from tiered blocks of channels. (taxpayer funded) libraries will be a basic tiered level based on your residency. content companies will provide the next tier(s) as a value added product on top of broadband and phone service as a fully integrated product. the only higher priced exclusive content will be reserved for NEW media with a 65 - 90 day window of being considered NEW content and then gets bumped to the non-new tiers. content creators and media outlets which own the content will have to be satisfied with a revenue sharing model of consumption because the PPV or PPL (pay per view or pay per license) model is and should only be tied to NEW content. One day you could even see websites such as TPB evolve to serve up this content as a portal.

** Put any other restrictions or high prices on content and you will encourage wide-spread world-wide piracy as the default. perhaps we will see a renaissance of innovation that transcends the bad economy and allows the 21st century to get started in a big way with the next generation-- or we can have more of the status quo. with broadband set to expand to gigabit in the northeast and google fiber making inroads.. the CATV & multimedia content industries will have to come together to make a pact to be a value added model and a limited license model for NEW content only as it will not survive any other way. the small jumps in internet pricing have already made this model viable; they just have to aggregate the content onto servers and create portals.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
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join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

I still watch pay TV

I have both DirecTV and Comcast for TV (Comcast because the Blast plus bundle makes more sense and its backup when DirecTV goes out) but DirecTV has a better DVR and better channel lineup.

TV will never die. If it wasn't pressure from regulators, I'm sure the cablecos would require purchase of basic cable in order to buy Internet and/or VoIP.

I watch TV every day. Fox News, Weather Channel, and local newscasts are the shows I watch most frequently.

Personally I think Netflix should be ruled as a video provider by the FCC and have to play on the same playing field as every other cable/satellite provider or TV Stations. Otherwise they have and unfair advantage.

My opinion, either regulate Netflix the same as traditional video providers or deregulate cable/satellite providers and broadcasters. That way it will be a level playing field.

I personally would rather see deregulation of traditional media outlets. And get rid of the PEG channel requirements (nobody wastes their time on that programming anyways). And I would like to hear the unedited versions of Green Day and Eminem songs on the radio and allow DJs to use locker room talk on the morning show. Also I'd like to see TV stations allowed to show R-rated movies on the air, unedited.

thedragonmas
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join:2007-12-28
Albany, GA
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thedragonmas

Premium Member

Re: I still watch pay TV

said by IowaCowboy:

TV will never die. If it wasn't pressure from regulators, I'm sure the cablecos would require purchase of basic cable in order to buy Internet and/or VoIP.

mediacom charges an extra $15 to any one who has internet only. get basic ($30 where im at) and the $15 vanishes, basically the same thing.

and why does netflix have an unfair advantage? because they provide content when people want? cable/sat has VOD that does the same thing. if anything data caps gives netflix a disadvantage.

i agree with the rest of your points though, i hate censoring, we have a tv ratings system for a reason if people are too dumb to not set the ratings on their tv's thats their problem in my view.

El Quintron
Cancel Culture Ambassador
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join:2008-04-28
Tronna

El Quintron to IowaCowboy

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to IowaCowboy
said by IowaCowboy:

Personally I think Netflix should be ruled as a video provider by the FCC and have to play on the same playing field as every other cable/satellite provider or TV Stations. Otherwise they have and unfair advantage.

Or they could do as any other corporation does when face with government regulation: Pack up, and move somewhere who offers a better regulatory environment and keep selling their goods from their new base, something shockingly easy on the interwebs.
34764170 (banned)
join:2007-09-06
Etobicoke, ON

34764170 (banned) to IowaCowboy

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to IowaCowboy
said by IowaCowboy:

I watch TV every day. Fox News

LOL. Why does that not surprise me.
OwlSaver
OwlSaver
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join:2005-01-30
Berwyn, PA

OwlSaver

Premium Member

Once Sports go, everything will follow

When sports are widely available over the WWW, it will spell the end of cable packages. I think this is a good thing. The worst recent development was Comcast buying NBC. They are far too vertically integrated.

TheTechGuru
join:2004-03-25
TEXAS

TheTechGuru

Member

Long Time Coming...

I've known this would be the end result for some time now.

The companies that own infrastructure (wires/lines/cables/fibers) need to concentrate on and offer one thing, raw broadband access.

Then users can pick their own content and phone providers to use over that raw broadband access which will increase competition and lower prices.

Only thing is, there would need to be no caps, and IMO no speed caps either, just dynamic bandwidth allocation.

ElderDruid
@optonline.net

ElderDruid

Anon

TWC buyout? God help us all, no...

I can imagine what an absolute downgrade it would be for CV to be bought out by TWC.

CV just grandfathered me into their Ultra 101 service tier for free...same $14.95 extra per month.

I always got 60Mbps solid under their Boost service, so now it's just sweet, sweet gravy.

Don't want the gravy train to end.

rchandra
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rchandra

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NTSC to ATSC, now to streaming maybe?

Since we've transitioned in the US from NTSC to ATSC, an all-digital format, do you suppose that instead of releasing new episodes of TV programs via the current satellite and terrestrial station infrastructure that instead we will have a supplement to Netflix et. al. by programming being released via streaming? Better still, on the advent of this, would it be possible to reuse the transponders currently used for digital video as a way to distribute Internet instead?

Hopefully such mass streaming could be handled by multicast instead of individual streams.