It appears Comcast is finally coming to terms with its declining cable TV service. The company’s cable division head David Watson explained the shift during its quarterly conference call.
“While we’re going to compete aggressively across the board for good video customers,” Watson said, “we have transitioned more and more toward broadband. Broadband is a centerpiece for us.”
According to MarketWatch, this may be Comcast recognizing the cord-cutting movement.
Comcast may be on to something based on its own data. The company lost 151,000 cable TV customers over the course of 2017. Yet it also added 1.2 million new internet-only customers last year. So Comcast is indeed still growing, but primarily through new customers wanting faster internet. With the growth in streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu, it’s likely many of those new customers are cord-cutters.
An Uphill Battle for Comcast
Comcast’s internet subscriber growth comes amidst many user concerns over the internet. The telecom was somewhat duplicitous on Net Neutrality. While it voiced its support for the Net Neutrality — which U.S. consumers heavily support — it also fought to help kill the regulation. As of December 2017, some polls showed as many as 83% of US voters support Net Neutrality regulations.
The company has also been accused of throttling internet speeds.
Poor public relations still plagues Comcast. The company was again labeled as the most hated in the U.S. last year. Comcast’s customer service, in particular, gets called out on numerous occasions. According to ConsumerAffairs.com, the company has 2.5 stars.
Nevertheless, Comcast may be the only viable high-speed internet option for many consumers, especially in the notoriously-limited U.S. broadband market.
Sam Cook is a full-time content strategist by day, a part-time freelance content writer since 2015. In another life, he was a high school English teacher for nearly a decade. Based in sunny New Orleans, he writes long-form educational content on technology, including Insurtech, Fintech, HRtech, and content streaming. He loves whittling down complex ideas within these areas that make decisions easier for buyers. When he’s not reading books with his son Miles and playing video games with the family, you can find him immersed in his growing collection of Euro-style board games.
