Comments on: Cable Continues to Beat Telcos at the Broadband Game http://gigaom.com/2008/11/17/cable-continues-to-beat-telcos-at-the-broadband-game/ Trusted Insights and Conversations on the Next Wave of Technology Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:38:00 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Kevin Walsh http://gigaom.com/2008/11/17/cable-continues-to-beat-telcos-at-the-broadband-game/#comment-913468 Kevin Walsh Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:02:54 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=29392#comment-913468 <p>A little perspective...</p> <p>For roughly 12 quarters prior to the most recent few, telco net broadband adds exceeded cablecos. The numbers above also do not appear to include fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP), virtually all of which is telco. The bottom line is that we are likely to see a highly competitive (and therefore good for consumers) duopoly where telcos and cablecos have 49% broadband market share each with the remaining 2% going to fringe technologies.</p> <p>Triple play was a focus in the past but is less so today. My bet is that the winner will be the broadband provider best able to deliver internet video; and those that watch a lot of it know that this isn't just a bandwidth issue. I'll further wager that cablecos will be skittish about making internet video (and I'm talking TV shows and movies delivered to 50" HDTVs, not YouTube on a PC) work better because they are already, after all, in the video business and view internet video as the enemy.</p> A little perspective…

For roughly 12 quarters prior to the most recent few, telco net broadband adds exceeded cablecos. The numbers above also do not appear to include fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP), virtually all of which is telco. The bottom line is that we are likely to see a highly competitive (and therefore good for consumers) duopoly where telcos and cablecos have 49% broadband market share each with the remaining 2% going to fringe technologies.

Triple play was a focus in the past but is less so today. My bet is that the winner will be the broadband provider best able to deliver internet video; and those that watch a lot of it know that this isn’t just a bandwidth issue. I’ll further wager that cablecos will be skittish about making internet video (and I’m talking TV shows and movies delivered to 50″ HDTVs, not YouTube on a PC) work better because they are already, after all, in the video business and view internet video as the enemy.

]]> By: Chris Hoover http://gigaom.com/2008/11/17/cable-continues-to-beat-telcos-at-the-broadband-game/#comment-913425 Chris Hoover Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:14:34 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=29392#comment-913425 <p>I agree with Bruce Leichtman that the marketing of triple play services is a key driver of cable adds vs. DSL. To date, the appeal of triple play has been price and convenience; however, there are additional benefits that may be less obvious. Triple play lays the foundation for cross-service interaction, not to mention interaction between services and the subscriber, that represent new revenue opportunities and can continue to drive growth. Services such as caller ID on the TV represent potential new sources of incremental revenue—who wouldn’t pay a buck a month for this? In addition, more advanced services such as automatic access to premium channels and DVR content via the PC, remote DVR programming, and cross-platform targeted advertising will grow demand and drive new revenue opportunities. This potential is by no means a certainty; the challenge for cable operators is to take advantage of the foundation they are building to ensure they continue to provide significant value beyond bandwidth.</p> I agree with Bruce Leichtman that the marketing of triple play services is a key driver of cable adds vs. DSL. To date, the appeal of triple play has been price and convenience; however, there are additional benefits that may be less obvious. Triple play lays the foundation for cross-service interaction, not to mention interaction between services and the subscriber, that represent new revenue opportunities and can continue to drive growth. Services such as caller ID on the TV represent potential new sources of incremental revenue—who wouldn’t pay a buck a month for this? In addition, more advanced services such as automatic access to premium channels and DVR content via the PC, remote DVR programming, and cross-platform targeted advertising will grow demand and drive new revenue opportunities. This potential is by no means a certainty; the challenge for cable operators is to take advantage of the foundation they are building to ensure they continue to provide significant value beyond bandwidth.

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