 
pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
| No Understanding of Business quote:
I don't see how Comcast can justify raising rates when they are making money hand over fist.
Someone who says this clearly has no understanding of how business works. Every business will charge the highest price it can possibly charge before it starts to lose customers. Comcast can raise its rates only because it can get away with it.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. | |
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 | chemaupr
join:2005-06-06
Alexandria, VA
| Re: No Understanding of Business said by pnh102  : quote:
I don't see how Comcast can justify raising rates when they are making money hand over fist.
Someone who says this clearly has no understanding of how business works. Every business will charge the highest price it can possibly charge before it starts to lose customers. Comcast can raise its rates only because it can get away with it. You do not charge the HIGHEST price you can before loosing customers. That is when you are suppose to start gaining the good faith of your customers. They are just arrogant and do not see Fios as a real threat. | |
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TK Junk Mail
Go ahead, make my day
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Margate City, NJ
clubs:
 ·Comcast
| Re: No Understanding of Business said by chemaupr :You do not charge the HIGHEST price you can before loosing customers. That is when you are suppose to start gaining the good faith of your customers. They are just arrogant and do not see Fios as a real threat. Actually, that is exactly what you do in a capitalist system. And if enough people start moving to Verizon, then Comcast will drop their rates.
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My BLOG
My Web Page | |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
| Re: No Understanding of Business said by TK Junk Mail :And if enough people start moving to Verizon, then Comcast will drop their rates. ... or if enough people leave Comcast without moving to Verizon (or whoever else provides TV service).
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. | |
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richardpor
Fur it up
join:2003-04-19
Portland, OR | Or I drop a tier. People seem to forget energy prices are on teh rise. This should be expected. | |
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bentman78
Bentley
join:2004-04-16
Arlington, VA | well what did you expect....look who posted the story.... | |
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Titus Pullo
I came, I saw, I slept
join:2004-06-26
 ·Embarq
| said by TK Junk Mail :said by chemaupr :You do not charge the HIGHEST price you can before loosing customers. That is when you are suppose to start gaining the good faith of your customers. They are just arrogant and do not see Fios as a real threat. Actually, that is exactly what you do in a capitalist system. And if enough people start moving to Verizon, then Comcast will drop their rates. In a pseudo competitive market, yes, you can charge what that market will tolerate, no matter how high. But in the real world it can, and usually does, work the other way. Example: Embarq DSL in my area dropped rates slightly when taking over for Sprint, but nothing exciting enough to entice cable HSI customers away from the numbness of their bundled and packaged Adelphia air supply.
Not too long ago, Adelphia experienced area-wide problems lasting a couple of weeks or so that were frustrating for both customers and technicians alike -- people were told to purchase new routers, service trucks were dispatched with new modems, etc, when the problem from day one was on the WAN side.
In any event, the problem made the papers and the local TV news. Comcast first blamed it on the transition but later admitted a 'glitch' and customers who had a choice and that were of a mind left for Embarq DSL service (I'm one).
Embarq DSL -- with nowhere near the coverage of Comcast here -- has a lightbulb moment and comes out with reduced rates for their 1500 tier ($25) for the first time EVER in this area, but waited well over a month later. The reduction was $10 (nearly 30%) from what the price was when I signed up during the Adelphia fiasco not that long before.
Meanwhile, I'd said 100 times that if any half decent HSI provider came along and undercut Adelphia they'd clean up. I think Embarq was a day late and a dollar short, but it illustrates how a truly competitive market should work.
However, life continued as usual: Comcast raised TV rates $3 on basic cable and went about their business of delivering whatever is it they deliver  at the prices they know their market will bear.
One aside to the story is that developments are springing up all over the place in and around this area. One development I drive by is close to the road so I watched it from start to finish -- I watched them bury the cable lines and so on. Well, the people have moved in and it looks like a scene from a european movie with the satellite dishes hanging off nearly every other unit. Comcast's reasons for pricing may be, as another poster pointed out, not so cut & dried in every area, and *I think* customers are starting to tire of the constant rate hikes, and increasingly spotty service, that usually come in tandem with the growth of a business through acquisition.
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"I am not young enough to know everything."
Oscar Wilde | |
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aaron8301
I can't get myself to go away.
join:2005-01-03
Clarkston, WA
·CableOne
| Re: No Understanding of Business said by Titus Pullo :Well, the people have moved in and it looks like a scene from a European movie with the satellite dishes hanging off nearly every other unit. Yup. You would be amazed at not only how many houses I have installed Dish/DirecTV on inside a major city with Comcast's triple play available, but also at how many apartments!
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"I invented it, Bill made it famous." --David Bradley, the inventor of Ctrl+Alt+Del. | |
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Titus Pullo
I came, I saw, I slept
join:2004-06-26
·Embarq
| Re: No Understanding of Business said by aaron8301 :said by Titus Pullo :Well, the people have moved in and it looks like a scene from a European movie with the satellite dishes hanging off nearly every other unit. Yup. You would be amazed at not only how many houses I have installed Dish/DirecTV on inside a major city with Comcast's triple play available, but also at how many apartments! It's plastic, it's drastic, it's spastic, it's C O M C A S T I C !! 
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"I am not young enough to know everything."
Oscar Wilde | |
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aaron8301
I can't get myself to go away.
join:2005-01-03
Clarkston, WA
·CableOne
| Re: No Understanding of Business said by Titus Pullo :It's plastic, it's drastic, it's spastic, it's C * * * * * * * * !!
Don't ever use that type of language in this forum again. Ever.
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"I invented it, Bill made it famous." --David Bradley, the inventor of Ctrl+Alt+Del. | |
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thender
Glamour Profession
Premium
join:2004-05-16
Staten Island, NY
 ·Verizon FIOS
edit:
January 8th, @01:34PM
| said by TK Junk Mail :said by chemaupr :You do not charge the HIGHEST price you can before loosing customers. That is when you are suppose to start gaining the good faith of your customers. They are just arrogant and do not see Fios as a real threat. Actually, that is exactly what you do in a capitalist system. And if enough people start moving to Verizon, then Comcast will drop their rates. I agree.
People are idiots. 90% of the US can't spell fiber, much less say it out loud, and there's an even lesser chance they know offhand why they should care.
Perhaps I'm exaggerating, but that's how consumers are. No one cares about hi-fi equipment, they just want something to play music without loud pops. No one cares about HDTV, half the time they plug the composite video connector in when they're paying for HDTV, and can tell no difference.
Once there's an "in" reason for people to have a 50 mbps downstream, comcast will feel the pressure. But as long as the majority of their customers just use their service to web browse quicker and download a few files quicker, they're fine.
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The Problem With Music.
Our Rationale
Time to rewrite the DMCA. | |
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aaron8301
I can't get myself to go away.
join:2005-01-03
Clarkston, WA
·CableOne
| Re: No Understanding of Business said by thender :No one cares about HDTV, half the time they plug the composite video connector in when they're paying for HDTV, and can tell no difference. More than half the time. I have seen this so many times on installs. It disgusts me.
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"I invented it, Bill made it famous." --David Bradley, the inventor of Ctrl+Alt+Del. | |
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redlines_r_us
@comcast.net | Aside from a few token areas, the majority of the big V's deployment will be in the wealthy areas so at the end of the day, only 1 percent of Comcast customers will even have Fios available. No threat there! | |
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| JSRoman
Premium
join:2005-03-10
Callahan, FL
edit:
January 8th, @10:03AM
| Not only that but I guess he thinks Comcast employees work for free and don't expect raises every year if they did a good job. Payroll cost go up every year usually, health benefits, programming cost also.
Morac is going to go into shock when someone tells him that Fios rates went up this year in some areas.
»FIOS TV raises prices a by 7.6%
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www.seabee.org | |
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| | rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO
·Charter Pipeline
 ·Vonage
| Re: No Understanding of Business said by JSRoman :Not only that but I guess he thinks Comcast employees work for free and don't expect raises every year if they did a good job. Payroll cost go up every year usually, health benefits, programming cost also. I agree on the employee costs but if Comcast has debt from resulting upgrades/acquisitions, they should reduce it and spend less on interest. We also must consider the relentless march of technology which gets faster and cheaper. | |
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| | dvdivx
join:2006-02-04
Seattle, WA | Considering for field and maintence techs only get a 15 to 35 cent raise per year you can bet that money is not going to the peons that work there. | |
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| | | JSRoman
Premium
join:2005-03-10
Callahan, FL
edit:
January 8th, @05:58PM
| Re: No Understanding of Business said by Morac :said by JSRoman : FIOS may have gone up 7%, but it's still 30% cheaper than Comcast. Comcast isn't raising rates to give bonuses to it's employees. To think that is just idiotic. How long has Fios been around?
Fios raised its rate after 1 year. Get used to it.
Bonuses to employees? Who said anything about bonuses. I was talking about your average increases that most people get from year to year, usually 3 to 5 percent.
Did you pay more for gasoline /diesel last year? My guess you did like everbody else and guess what, everyone who has fleet of trucks did also and that includes Comcast.
You are living in a fantasy world if you think you are not going to get yearly increases with FIOS TV.
Dates for you to remember.
2/1/07 Comcast announces earnings for 4th quarter
Some time in March DTv and Dish will anounce their price increases.
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www.seabee.org | |
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| CLEVELTECH
join:2006-12-21
02107 | yep and that arrogant thinking will be their undoing. | |
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cdru
Go Colts
Premium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
·Verizon FIOS
| said by pnh102 :Every business will charge the highest price it can possibly charge before it starts to lose customers. Actually the goal is to raise rates until money lost by customers = additional money charged to existing customers. At this equilibrium, maximum profits are obtained. If money lost --
Quis custodiet custodes ipsos? | |
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Morac
join:2001-08-30
Riverside, NJ
·Comcast
| said by pnh102 : Someone who says this clearly has no understanding of how business works. Every business will charge the highest price it can possibly charge before it starts to lose customers. Comcast can raise its rates only because it can get away with it. As a monopoly Comcast can charge whatever it wants. I understand that, but to raise rates just as a superior and cheaper service starts deploying takes some gall. They won't be able to do that once Verizon TV becomes widespread. I'd drop Comcast in a heartbeat if Verizon was available to me.
And don't bother mentioning satellite. Satellite can't compete with Cable service for service. In the past it was able to, but it physically can't now since 2-way communication via satellite is severely limited. That basically leaves cable or nothing.
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The Comcast Disney Avatar has been retired. | |
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| | Georgiaboy
join:2005-06-25
Savannah, GA
·Comcast
| Re: No Understanding of Business said by Morac :said by pnh102 : Someone who says this clearly has no understanding of how business works. Every business will charge the highest price it can possibly charge before it starts to lose customers. Comcast can raise its rates only because it can get away with it. As a monopoly Comcast can charge whatever it wants. I understand that, but to raise rates just as a superior and cheaper service starts deploying takes some gall. They won't be able to do that once Verizon TV becomes widespread. I'd drop Comcast in a heartbeat if Verizon was available to me. And don't bother mentioning satellite. Satellite can't compete with Cable service for service. In the past it was able to, but it physically can't now since 2-way communication via satellite is severely limited. That basically leaves cable or nothing. Keep in mind that Verizon is good at cherrypicking. How much of the larger markets will it penetrate? They need to penetrate a good bit if they are to impact major cable companies such as Comcast. I, as of now, am waiting to see what is to become of ATT U-Verse since I'm in a former Bell South territory. ATT cherrypicks, but doesn't seem quite as selective as Verizon so I'll hope for the best. | |
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Titus Pullo
I came, I saw, I slept
join:2004-06-26
·Embarq
| How? Because they can and in order to pay for their new Dadkins-inspired service vans  ...
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"I am not young enough to know everything."
Oscar Wilde | |
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| krctiny
join:2007-01-08
Frisco, TX | Re: How? Because they can and Wow. Does that say Comcastic? | |
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Titus Pullo
I came, I saw, I slept
join:2004-06-26
·Embarq
| Re: How? Because they can and said by krctiny :Wow. Does that say Comcastic? gulp ... yeah it does
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"I am not young enough to know everything."
Oscar Wilde | |
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cybercrimes
join:2003-12-24
Phoenixville, PA | fiostv here i come just 2 more days with comcast | |
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JTRockville
Data Ho
Premium,MVM
join:2002-01-28
Rockville, MD
clubs: | Comcast has to make up for lost revenue somehow... As alternatives become available and people migrate to other providers, Comcast has to maintain the revenue stream somehow.
Those without an alternative will get squeezed even harder.
Sucks to be them. Ouch! | |
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| Georgiaboy
join:2005-06-25
Savannah, GA
·Comcast
| Re: Comcast has to make up for lost revenue somehow... said by JTRockville :As alternatives become available and people migrate to other providers, Comcast has to maintain the revenue stream somehow. Those without an alternative will get squeezed even harder. Sucks to be them. Ouch! That's me. I guess I'll say it. Ouch!!!! lol | |
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Techman21
join:2005-04-14
Richmond, VA
edit:
January 8th, @10:08AM
| pfft The comments about raising rates before losing customers is unintelligent. If Comcast wasn't that worried about losing customers it wouldn't raise rates, it would lower them or keep them the same. If Comcast were to keep rates the same then they would probably roll out some sort of new line that allotted more channels to the various channel line ups.
It would not make business sense to raise rates when a competitor is coming into the market. A company is not in business to lose customers. Its in business to maintain and retain those customers. Otherwise the business goes under.
Raising rates for any business (for the most part) would help drive that business faster into the ground. The goal is to keep the business making money for as long as possible. Even if its a small amount of cash that adds up over time. Compared to the quick buck over a short time span.
But cable has been slowly dying in the first place because the people running those businesses are total morons. In all the smaller towns and rural areas where I know cable is an option everyone has satellite because its a better deal. You get more channels for what you pay, whereas cable charges you an arm and a leg just for 60 channels. Why pay near the same amount for 60 channels when you get over 100 channels AND better quality picture? | |
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| Steve B
join:2004-08-02
Seattle, WA
| Re: pfft For the price of the 60-75 channel package (basic or expanded basic) from Comcast, I get 185 channels plus over 60 channels off XM Sat Radio. That isn't promotional pricing either. Throw in an additional 10 bucks and now I got two DVRs.
I hate the constant cable rate hikes. One has to wonder though like the original article stated what valid justification could Comcast possibly offer for these constant rate hikes even though they have record profits. Oil companies come to mind too.... | |
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| | Jamuka
join:2005-06-06 | Re: pfft Oil companies don't necessarily set the price of oil which why gas prices are higher. Ever hear of OPEC? | |
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| | | Steve B
join:2004-08-02
Seattle, WA
| Re: pfft Actually, I have. What I was getting at is what was also stated in the original article of this thread. How could they have any valid reason for higher prices when they claim to have record profits. No matter how you slice it, its wrong. In simpler terms, no matter how you try to calculate it, you cannot claim record profits and then have any kind of excuse whatsoever for raising prices. | |
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| | | | dynodb
Premium,VIP
join:2004-04-21
Minneapolis, MN
| Re: pfft said by Steve B :...How could they have any valid reason for higher prices when they claim to have record profits. No matter how you slice it, its wrong. In simpler terms, no matter how you try to calculate it, you cannot claim record profits and then have any kind of excuse whatsoever for raising prices. It's not a matter of right or wrong, especially when competition (Dish at the very least) exists. We're not talking about a necessity like power or water service here, but rather a luxury. You choose to pay it or you don't.
If raising rates brings in more money, then they are obligated to serve their shareholders by doing so. If raising rates ends up costing them money in the form of lost customers, then they're obligated not to.
There might be businesses out there that aren't interested in maximizing profits, but I don't know of any and I sure as hell wouldn't buy their stock. | |
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| | | | | Steve B
join:2004-08-02
Seattle, WA
| Re: pfft True, I understand that businesses are in to make money and I also understand the obligation to shareholders. However, without customers, they wouldn't have any business. I do believe it is a matter of right and wrong. If you are in business and your money is made be ripping everyone else off, then its wrong and that company should not be in business. If not that, then bring in some viable competition. If given the chance, I would bet most people would not have cable because of their business practices, i.e. cable prices hikes every year. Like I mentioned though, sat is not viable competition since not everyone can get it for various reasons and we need viable competition. | |
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itguy05
join:2005-06-17
Camp Hill, PA | hmm Guess he conveniently forgot that Verizon also raised rates this year. And so did DirecTV and Dish, IIRC. | |
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| dogo88
join:2001-09-24
Old Bridge, NJ | Re: hmm I've had DirecTV for almost three years and there was only ONE rate increase during that time. Cable can't say that. | |
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JTRockville
Data Ho
Premium,MVM
join:2002-01-28
Rockville, MD
clubs:
edit:
January 8th, @01:15PM
| Re: hmm Sure, everyone raises rates. But the point is, some providers' price increases (like DirecTV's) are in-line with inflation, while Comcast's price increases reflect unbridled greed. | |
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asdfdfdfdf
@Level3.net
 from:
madrhino
guitarzan
| What I'm appalled by is how addicted americans are to tv... If we were to consider all the effects:
the wasted money and time spent vapidly staring at a screen.
the effect of celebrity worship
the warped value system it imparts
the consequence of living in a society awash in softcore porn and use of sexual imagery to constantly manipulate people
we should probably rank it above drug use as the most destructive addiction this country faces. It really should be viewed as a national PROBLEM. | |
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See 11 replies to this post |
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hayabusa3303
Over 200 mph
Premium
join:2005-06-29
clubs: | TV? there is NEVER anything on TV. I cant see people paying 30 to 110 bucks a month for tv when there is nothing ON TV.  | |
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| Steve B
join:2004-08-02
Seattle, WA | Re: TV? The idea of nothing on TV is relative. Where one person might say that, you can always find others who say there is always stuff on tv to watch which makes your statement baseless. | |
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cableties
Premium
join:2005-01-27
Levittown, PA
| Though I agree, I have to deal with water-cooler co-workers blabbing about "Did YOU see last night's LOST?" "How about that 24???" "Man, that chick couldn't sing on American Idol", "that HOUSE episode was too real!", lastly, "That HEROES was awesome! Did you see it last night??"
Yep. Nothing worthwhile on. | |
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| | Steve B
join:2004-08-02
Seattle, WA | Re: TV? Again, its all relative. While you find those things not worthwhile to watch, obviously all those people you just mentioned do find it worthwhile. | |
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Rob
In Deo speramus
Premium
join:2001-08-25
Kendall, FL
·Comcast
·AT&T Southeast
| Keep Pushing.. Comcast will just keep pushing the rate increases. As customers start to complain, they'll give those individual customers price breaks (ie. $20 off for 6 months).
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YourIP.US - Quickly Locate Your IP! | |
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| Steve B
join:2004-08-02
Seattle, WA | Re: Keep Pushing.. Yeah, Comcast does do that quite a bit and if they can they obviously could afford to keep rates down a bit and not jack them up every year. | |
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raccettura
join:2002-09-28
USA
| Legal End I see Comcast using legal tactics in the near future. Similar to how Cellular providers scare people to avoid churn:
1. Against customers who try to cancel, citing everything from implied contracts, and whatever jargon they can use to scare people. Most people believe whatever the sales rep tells them anyway.
2. Against Verizon and anyone else who tries to compete. Going all the way to the FCC if necessary.
I'm betting that will be their strategy.
IMHO, can't wait until Verizon starts laying down the fiber optic gold. | |
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moonpuppy
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD
·Verizon Online DSL
| Hmmm....no one mentioned this yet...... Where are all the comments that costs go up and Comcast needs to raise rates because people constantly want newer and better services and Comcast's constant "upgrading" of the system.
Looks like they are trying to build their cash reserves for the impending fight. | |
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See 9 replies to this post |
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Varlik
Without Honor You Will Never Be Free
Premium
join:2002-01-06
Anderson, SC | Remember They're the BMW of Cable. So unless you want to drive a Yugo just hand your wallet over. | |
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| JSRoman
Premium
join:2005-03-10
Callahan, FL
| Re: [shakes head] said by Boomerang86 :Heck, Comcrap has to make up for the lost revenue from customer defects somehow. »www.cmcsk.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=11···ghlight=
Comcast Reports Third Quarter 2006 Results
Triple Play powers highest level of quarterly RGU additions in Comcast history
Record additions fuel 15% growth in cable Operating Cash Flow and 12% growth in cable revenue
Third consecutive quarter of accelerating growth in cable revenue and cable Operating Cash Flow.
"Revenue increased 12% to $6.6 billion in the third quarter of 2006 as demand for our video, voice and high-speed Internet services accelerated. The rollout of our Triple Play offering contributed to the record-setting RGU net additions for the quarter.
Revenue generating units (RGUs)(3) increased 1.486 million in the third quarter of 2006 or 82% from prior year net additions. RGU growth was concentrated in Historical Comcast Systems(4) with 1.402 million or 94% of the net additions in those markets. Comcast ended the third quarter of 2006 with 49.2 million RGUs, an increase of 4.3 million units from one year ago."
Yea you hit it right on the mark. I guess if anyone owns Comcast stock, they better get out before they go bankrupt.
Some of you are going to go into shock when Comcast reports 4th quarter numbers on Feb 1st.
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www.seabee.org | |
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hobgoblin
Sortof Agoblin
Premium
join:2001-11-25
Orchard Park, NY
clubs:
| Re: [shakes head] Of course those that are bleating about Comcast bleeding subscribers should note the following
Video
-- Added 558,000 new digital subscribers during the quarter - digital
penetration now exceeds 50%
-- Historical Comcast Systems added 24,000 basic video subscribers during
the quarter compared to a loss of 39,000 in the prior year
High-Speed Internet
-- Added 536,000 high-speed Internet subscribers during the quarter - most
quarterly additions in two years
Phone
-- Added 483,000 Comcast Digital Voice (CDV) customers during the quarter
-- CDV service now marketed to 31 million homes or 65% of Comcast's
footprint
What a horrible position this company is in.
Hob
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"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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Comcast Raises Rates in Face of FiOS
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