Yesterday, cable TV was a growth industry and Comcast Xfinity led the pack. Today, they are struggling to hang onto market share. They are losing customers to new competitors and new technology. So, let us take a closer look at what has changed and what they can do to turn this ship around and start to grow once again.
As I consult with and advise countless senior level executives in wireless, telecom, pay TV, broadband, Wi-Fi and more, I often learn as much as I teach. So, take note.
The Comcast growth journey is an interesting story. They started life as one of the many, smaller, typical cable TV companies with CEO Ralph Roberts at the helm. Brian Roberts, Ralph’s son, took over with plans to make the company a powerhouse.
In the 1990s, Ma Bell, the original AT&T acquired TCI, the largest cable TV operation, based in Denver. And for a brief and shining moment, under CEO Mike Armstrong, AT&T was the largest cable TV operator in the country.
Armstrong made a bold move to reinvent the telecom industry at a time when the former telephone giant was rapidly losing long-distance market share to the Baby Bells. You see, even leading companies can get backed into a corner by not making the right moves.
After all that work, by the early 2000s, AT&T was dying on the vine. So, it was acquired by the smallest Baby Bell, SBC, out of San Antonio, Texas, along with BellSouth and Cingular around 2004. Today, that wireless company is called AT&T Mobility.
That move suddenly turned tiny SBC into a giant in the telecommunications industry. They asked me which name to take? I obviously told them AT&T is the best-known telephone company in the country. So, they took the name AT&T.
Growth of broadband created new competitors and new services
So, like Comcast, AT&T started small and through acquisitions grew to become a giant. Ultimately, AT&T sold its TCI cable TV property to Comcast, instantly turning them into the largest cable TV company in the industry. Next, Comcast acquired NBC Universal, and they became even larger and stronger.
Around the year 2000, as broadband grew, it began to change the ability to deliver services to the end user. New competition and new technology to traditional cable TV started to grow, winning market share.
Part of the reason for the cable television loss of market share was that they never treated their customers well. My assumption was they had no competition, so what did they have to worry about if they did not treat their customers with respect? Eventually, that attitude came back to bite cable TV companies in the rear end.
Another part is sticking with old technology compared to new tech offered by competitors left them a weak and older provider.
As traditional cable TV lost market share, the providers needed to find new services for new revenues. Rather than fixing the growing problem and adopting new technology, they got into other businesses like streaming, wireless, broadband and other services.
Many people do not yet realize this, but today their top service is no longer cable TV. Today, the top service from cable TV companies is broadband. Wireless as another growth engine. Once upon a time both broadband and wireless looked like the center of the cable TV universe. Today, not so much.
How FWA broadband impacts cable TV broadband
Technology continues to grow and change. New competition enters the marketplace, changing everything.
Example, FWA (Fixed Wireless Access) is now empowering wireless carriers like AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless to compete against the cable television giants for broadband. The new, wireless service also costs the customer less, which makes it more attractive.
As cable TV companies lose broadband market share, this should be another red flag to the industry. So, why have they not yet developed a competitive response like companies always do?
I have met with DOCSIS competitors who can let the cable TV industry offer a service similar to wireless broadband over wireless networks. The question I have is why hasn’t cable TV jumped on this new service to help them slow their broadband losses?
This is the soup Comcast Xfinity, Charter Spectrum, Altice, Cox and other cable TV providers are stewing in. The marketplace always changes. Leadership yesterday does not guarantee leadership tomorrow.
Today, Comcast Xfinity is not the same leader it was when it initially acquired TCI and NBC Universal. They were at the top of their game back then.
Every company faces changing growth waves. These are threats and growth opportunities. Cable TV believes it can control the development of new tech and new services. However, unless they create the next growth wave, companies cannot create or steer this kind of change.
Rather than control it, they need to ride the moving growth wave. Otherwise, like at the beach, the change wave moves forward and leaves them behind.
Speaking with senior-level Comcast executives I can see their problem
The secret for every company is to understand the always-adapting change wave. Companies must stay with the changing tide and continue to ride it. That’s the only way to continue to win.
As I speak with many senior-level executives at Comcast, other cable TV companies and new competitors, I have learned there is an unrealistic attitude. They think they have the power to change the direction of the growth wave. To control it.
In fact, this is the same sense I got from Motorola executives just before the iPhone and Android toppled their leadership. This false sense of security can be very dangerous.
If cable TV wants to survive and grow once again, it needs to understand the world has changed. So, their growth strategies must change as well. Today, the customer has countless choices today of technology and competitors. Today, cable TV giants must finally think and act like the newer, smaller, innovative players in the fast-changing space.
They must forget yesterday and embrace tomorrow. Can they do this? Will they do this? That is the most important question to answer.
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