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Comcast Lost 194,000 Pay TV Customers Last Year
Comcast's earnings report this week indicated that while the company lost 194,000 pay TV customers last year (adding 6,000 in the fourth quarter), the company managed to add 1.3 million new broadband customers during the same period. Comcast made $20.7 billion in 2014 off of pay TV subscribers compared to $11.3 billion from its broadband customers. As pay TV revenues continue to stall Comcast will be looking to make up the difference in that lost revenue -- most likely in the form of Comcast's slowly expanding usage caps and overage fees. Meanwhile, Comcast says it is "optimistic and feels comfortable" about their merger getting approved sometime early this year.
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neufuse
join:2006-12-06
James Creek, PA

1 recommendation

neufuse

Member

True IPTV

Maybe it's time for these cable companies to start offering a true IPTV platform with the option to buy networks you want to watch in addition to traditional tv delivery... you know then you could keep customers who only watch like 1 or 2 channels ever and still get a revenue stream from them and count them as a tv customer... nothing bundled just hey I watch discovery networks give me the discovery package only type of stuff...
elefante72
join:2010-12-03
East Amherst, NY

elefante72

Member

Re: True IPTV

The operators will look for either multi-line utilization (triple play) or monetization (fees for everything) or both to keep operational expenses in line. In areas where there is little/no competition both bundling and monetization will be the rule of the day. If they allow TWC/CMCSA to merge you can bet 100% they will practice both in non-competitive areas.

As for competitive areas, well market forces will dictate unless they skirt that by lobbying the states/munis to keep out competition or make the barrier to entry high. It's a multifaceted plan.

Lucky for us, network equipment, phone termination, and transit costs continue to plummet...The one thing that is skyrocketing is content cost. So sooner or later there will be focus on that.

With that said, take a look at Apple. The most profitable company in the world. People happily throw money at them, but it is voluntary...Make the pipe to the house neutral, and we will see the "light" or optics if it were.

Comcast is vertically integrated, so until they break up Comcast like they did Time Warner (sort of), there will always be a push pull of content versus pipe--and rising costs to go with it.

Linear TV is dead, it's just a matter of time before the dust kills off the vegetation and the dinosaurs succumb.

Doakills
@comcast.net

Doakills

Anon

Re: True IPTV

Or its just the prices they charge in general. rip off...
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT
·Frontier FiberOp..
Asus RT-AC68

BiggA to elefante72

Premium Member

to elefante72
said by elefante72:

Linear TV is dead, it's just a matter of time before the dust kills off the vegetation and the dinosaurs succumb.

It's a pretty efficient way of getting stuff on my TiVo.
silbaco
Premium Member
join:2009-08-03
USA

silbaco to neufuse

Premium Member

to neufuse
Once they do that then it is just one step closer to having the networks sell access to customers directly. That would make Comcast a dumb pipe.
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT

BiggA to neufuse

Premium Member

to neufuse
WHAT? What the heck does IPTV have to do with a-la-carte pricing? Absolutely NOTHING. Your comment makes absolutely no sense.

OneoftheNew
@pnc.com

OneoftheNew

Anon

New subscriber to broadband

I am one of those new broadband customers and the only reason I am a new broadband customer is because Verizon wouldn't fix the issues we had with DSL. Verizon kept send idiots who didn't understand what they need to in order to fix the problem and after months we were forced to go to Comacast as they are the other other provider. I refused to leave Dish for Comacast and got Dish to match the cost of going with a triple screw as opposed to the double I did get.
BTW - can someone recommend a Comacast compatible cable modem that can also handle the voice portion?

telcodad
MVM
join:2011-09-16
Lincroft, NJ

telcodad

MVM

Re: New subscriber to broadband

said by OneoftheNew :

I am one of those new [cable] broadband customers...

BTW - can someone recommend a Comcast compatible cable modem that can also handle the voice portion?

I have a triple-play package with Comcast and use a purchased ARRIS TM822G voice modem (eMTA) with a separate wireless router.

The prices on the TM822G has come down quite a bit lately, with a number of third-party sellers on Amazon with new ones currently listed for $140 (w/ free shipping) or less, some with an 8-hour backup battery included: »www.amazon.com/gp/offer- ··· tion=new
dishrich
join:2006-05-12
Springfield, IL

dishrich

Member

Re: New subscriber to broadband

Actually they can be had for under $100 now; just installed one for a friend of mine from this site: (& yes, it DID include the battery)

»stores.dontleaseyourmode ··· on-more/
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT

BiggA to telcodad

Premium Member

to telcodad
Yeah, that one works great. My parents got it for triple play.
Corporate
join:2014-10-04

Corporate to OneoftheNew

Member

to OneoftheNew
said by OneoftheNew :

BTW - can someone recommend a Comacast compatible cable modem that can also handle the voice portion?

Get an official DOSICS 3 Comcast cable modem from amazon. This modem also includes voice and wireless.

»www.amazon.com/ARRIS-Res ··· le+modem
dishrich
join:2006-05-12
Springfield, IL

dishrich

Member

Re: New subscriber to broadband

I'm assume you must work f/Comcast...because that can be the only reason why you'd recommend something that - besides being THE most expensive:
- the Wi-Fi on this thing SUCKS (one of the big reasons why I switched my friend's rental unit out)
- Comcast has control of the router/Wi-Fi portion of this; they DON'T when you buy your own router
- Comcast has & can override it (not) broadcasting it's "Public Wi-Fi" signal; again, they CAN'T do that on your own router
- If you need a larger &/or more powerful router, no sense in spending $$$ on one built into the modem
- If either the modem or router need upgrading, you do NOT have to do both, like you do on modem/router combos
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT

BiggA

Premium Member

Re: New subscriber to broadband

Agreed.

Vegasorbust
@cox.net

Vegasorbust to OneoftheNew

Anon

to OneoftheNew
mydeviceinfo.comcast.net

You'll see that there are only 2 retail eMTAs, TG862G and TM722. Buying any other may result in an unpleasant experience.
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT

BiggA

Premium Member

Re: New subscriber to broadband

TM822G works with Comcast.
dishrich
join:2006-05-12
Springfield, IL

dishrich

Member

Re: New subscriber to broadband

YES, the one I personally activated for a friend, as well as another friend who bought his own, were both TM822G's from that DLYM & were self-activated (swapped) with NO problems whatsoever...
mike31US
join:2013-08-15
Orting, WA

mike31US

Member

Lost me too

They lost me as a TV customer this year. Not to go into details but we ended up being sick and tired of getting terrible customer service. It's a shame really as I love the product.

Nuckfuts
Premium Member
join:2003-10-18
Joliet, IL

Nuckfuts

Premium Member

Re: Lost me too

I cancelled last year too. Internet is awesome but pricey. TV, on the other hand, is way too much for what you get. It did not help that my TV service went out on the first Sunday of NFL football for 9 hours. Oh well, I feel soon I will be a cord cutter since we seem to use Netflix and Hulu more and more each day.
lawpdx
join:2014-04-16
Portland, OR

lawpdx

Member

Comcast Usage Cap

I like Comcast's FAQ for How do I avoid overage charges?:

To avoid overage charges, you must not exceed your monthly data usage plan amount each month.

telcodad
MVM
join:2011-09-16
Lincroft, NJ

telcodad

MVM

Re: Comcast Usage Cap

said by lawpdx:

I like Comcast's FAQ for How do I avoid overage charges?:

To avoid overage charges, you must not exceed your monthly data usage plan amount each month.

So then is the next question:

Q: "How do I avoid exceeding your monthly data usage plan amount?"

And if so, let me guess the answer:

A: "To avoid exceeding your monthly data usage plan amount use less data than the threshold specified by your plan."

maartena
Elmo
Premium Member
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA

maartena

Premium Member

No surprise.

DirecTV is the only one that got new customers, everyone else lost customers. And the DirecTV gain might be partly to blame on Dish Network disputes, and partly on NFL Sunday Ticket deals.

I talked with my nephew who is 18. He moved in with us last month, and I informed him that we don't have cable TV. He said that that's ok, because, and I quote: "all my friends and me just watch stuff online only".

He watches a bunch of youtube stuff and then stuff on Netflix, and some other sites like Twitch for his videogaming.... but he has not really watched much television in a few years, except to catch a game or two when they are on, but he says he doesn't need that either, really.

But what caught me is the "me and my friends" bit. Upon asking more, it turned out that even though most of his friends still live at home (17-19 age range), they don't really use the television they have. They connect their laptops to a TV a lot if there is a second TV somewhere, and actually disconnect the TV receiver if it is there.... so they can watch youtube stuff on a bigger screen or play games.

The age of traditional TV is starting to crumble a little bit. Not much, but a little bit by bit. The cable companies and TV station owners are banking on nothing changing much, but the reality is.... as macabre as it may sound.... that the baby boom generation (between 70 and 55 years old at this moment) are all retiring, and dying. Now, dead is dead and means no more cable sub. Retirement however often means that people change from a full salary income to a income that is much smaller, and often only raising in the first 10 years or so, after which it usually becomes a fixed income. And those people aren't going to afford 5% rate increases each year, and that is pretty much what has happened since 2005 or so.... every year more and more needs to be paid. They blame it on sports with "sports surcharges", they blame it on the broadcasters with "broadcast surcharges", and all the same the cable and satellite companies aren't allowing anyone to control the costs more by, for instance, eliminating the expensive sports channels from their packages.

It will be a while before cable companies really start to feel the pain..... but the first pin pricks are being issued to them right now.

fonzbear2000
Premium Member
join:2005-08-09
Saint Paul, MN

fonzbear2000

Premium Member

No wonder....

No wonder they've gone to India and The Philippines for all of their tech support.

Titus
Mr Gradenko
join:2004-06-26

Titus

Member

In a sane and just world

they would lose 194,000 a day.