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Topic: Mobility

Comcast: TV Everywhere out of beta next month; Cord cutting a myth

Summary: Comcast CFO Mike Angelakis said that the company will soon be on the offensive for online video and said that so-called cord cutting---consumers that give up cable TV for the Internet---remains rare.

Larry Dignan

By for Between the Lines |

Comcast CFO Mike Angelakis said that the company will soon be on the offensive for online video and said that so-called cord cutting---consumers that give up cable TV for the Internet---remains rare.

Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia XIX conference, Angelakis said detailed the company's TV Everywhere plan. TV Everywhere refers to an effort to bring your cable channels to multiple screens via the Internet. For the cable industry, this effort is the answer to Hulu, YouTube and Netflix among others.

Here's what Angelakis said when asked about whether Comcast was playing offense or defense with TV Everywhere:

TV Everywhere, which we are calling Xfinity online TV, will be relaunched next month (and is) clearly offensive. Our goal is to provide our customers with the content that they want anytime, anywhere. And that includes as we launch different services with Xfinity and what we call Project Cavalry All-Digital -- that's all somewhat connected.

And the goal really is to provide our customers with the content that they want, where they want it and, frankly, provide them with as much as they want so they don't feel they need an alternative. We think that we have a great value proposition on the video side. It will evolve. It will mature in terms of how we innovate that product, whether it's online, whether it's on linear or whether it's VOD or ultimately possibly wireless. So I think we are very focused on how do we surround the customer in a way that makes not only their -- so they have lots of choices.

However, Angelakis made it sound like cable doesn't really have to keep people from perusing alternatives. On cord cutting, he said:

When people say there's cord cutting, we really just don't see it. And when we think about cord cutting or the flavor of the day, we look at that as primarily competition to our VOD business, not to our core business.

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Topics: Mobility, Hardware, Networking, Telcos

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26 comments
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  • RE: Comcast: TV Everywhere out of beta next month; Cord cutting a myth

    I'm leaning towards doing this, after being a customer of Comcast through my parents and myself for nearly 30 years now.
    With the internet and the availability of almost all shows on the internet (Unnatural History HD is one I download), you would be STUPID to keep a cable TV membership today.

    Satellite? Since it's INFINITUDES cheaper? That I would go for!

    If Comcast and other cable companies want people to keep on using their services, they are going to have to? LOWER PRICES!
    Lerianis10
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Comcast: TV Everywhere out of beta next month; Cord cutting a myth

      @Lerianis10

      A cable box interface is more natural than an HTPC for watching TV. Although I've been considering the same thing, I haven't quite pulled the trigger yet. I think football is forcing me to delay. May have to get some rabbit ears.
      LiquidLearner
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Comcast: TV Everywhere out of beta next month; Cord cutting a myth

        @LiquidLearner lol. rabbit ears. off air is mostly all digital now. you will need a little more than rabbit ears!
        ray.case@...
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Comcast: TV Everywhere out of beta next month; Cord cutting a myth

        @LiquidLearner & @ray.case: Rabbit ears will work just fine to pull in OTA digital signals, even at great distances from the signal sources. I know this because I have set up several DTV systems that use rabbit ears as their primary signal source. They will even pull in a quality DTV signal from 60+ miles away from the source antennas.

        Don't buy into the DTV antenna hype - rabbit ears will work just fine!
        j28n
        Reply Vote

  • RE: Comcast: TV Everywhere out of beta next month; Cord cutting a myth

    I considered doing this a while ago, dropping cable and just watch everything online. Didn't pan out when I realized some shows aren't up until a week or so after. Then other shows aren't even available online.

    I'm also not the kind of guy who cares about commercials, but I do like them when they introduce me to a new show.
    Darkninja962
    Reply Vote

  • Haven't had conventional cable TV for two years

    I don't need cable TV. With Netflix (discs & streaming), Hulu, Hulu+ and PlayOn (software which allows me to view Hulu content, CBS and much more on my TV by way of my game console or any other DLNA device) I honestly don't have enough time to keep up with it all. I use an HD antenna for occasional late night TV viewing (Craig Ferguson) and the late local news. <br><br>I don't care about sports. Nor do I have a need to watch a series as each episode debuts. Episodes make their way to the Net soon enough and if a series is TRULY worth watching it makes its way to disc in which case Netflix fits the bill.<br><br>-M
    betelgeuse68
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Comcast: TV Everywhere out of beta next month; Cord cutting a myth

    I have Comcast, and while I think there service is good, something is going to have to be done with the monthly subscriptions rates as they are way-too-high. I'm looking at different avenues myself at the moment. Still haven't figured it all out yet, but I will. Everytime I turn around, Comcast is raising their rates - which is nuts in these economic times.
    kfessler1@...
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Comcast: TV Everywhere out of beta next month; Cord cutting a myth

    Aren't these the same f#$%^&s that were upset that people were using too much f#$%^g bandwidth? And wanting to charge a premium or threatening to cut people off? Wait, it wasn't a threat. It's about time you f@#$%s got your s%$t straight. Now they want to use my 10 GB/month rural internet to sell me their service?
    dbisse@...
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Comcast: TV Everywhere out of beta next month; Cord cutting a myth

    I think Comcast is horrible, it has gotten better, but its still sucks, shows frame out, my DVR will hang so when I try to FFWD through a commercial I FFWD through the show to the next commercial, the tech support is next to useless, they cant explain to you why something wont work, they just tell you, "it cant do that" whatever, I hope they finally lift the act that keeps cable companies from competing in the same areas, I am going to back to TWC as soon as they do.
    nickdangerthirdi@...
    Reply Vote

  • Benefits of a Cut Cord: Geography

    ...so if I'm paying for a premium pay service, or if I have ordered some Pay per View event, why should I have to be geographically in a particular place to consume it? If I rent a DVD or Blu-Ray disk I can watch it at my house, my friend's house or in my car if I want...if my friend just bought a Mitsubishi LaserVue 75" TV, why shouldn't I be able, if it's connected to the internet, to watch the UFC Pay per view event I purchased at his house instead of mine?
    ReadWryt (error)
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Comcast: TV Everywhere out of beta next month; Cord cutting a myth

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      overoll
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    • RE: Comcast: TV Everywhere out of beta next month; Cord cutting a myth

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      kidneyy
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Comcast: TV Everywhere out of beta next month; Cord cutting a myth

    I get all the video entertainment I want over-the-air with a UHF antenna.

    Streaming content? Har. I live in dial-up country.

    I could get a DBS, but really... if there is a show I want to see that badly I'll just pay for it by the year (Blu-Ray). It's cheaper than carrying a month-to-month cable or DBS subscription, frankly.

    I watch about 15 hours of TV every week. And honestly, that's too much. Who really needs VOD?
    huygens1962
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Comcast: TV Everywhere out of beta next month; Cord cutting a myth

    The fact is that the video delivered over the internet is low quality. The bandwidth required is much higher- 1000x? than for cable, as everyone must have a separate stream. The most efficient way is to deliver a single stream, and everyone use their DVR to watch it when they are ready.
    davidpl
    Reply Vote

    • None of this is true

      @davidpl

      The bandwidth required for shows unburdened with the cable companies encoding is less. If it's using a standard encryption, it's much less. As multicast improves with chip speeds, and comes down in price, the bandwidth burden on their regular "broadcast" networks should decrease, yet you don't see their prices going down. Broadcast is an extremely inefficient means of transmitting any data. There is a reason it is increasingly constrained and eliminated in data networks. Broadcast is a relic from another era.

      Cable is not better quality. Cable "HD" offers at most 720p. You can stream better than that from YouTube.

      I do love DVRs, but where can you get one that will decode digital cable besides TiVo, which is a very weak platform?
      tkejlboom
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Comcast: TV Everywhere out of beta next month; Cord cutting a myth

    Comcast CFO Mike Angelakis is in denial because I've already dump Comcast tv(still use them for internet though)and soon to dump Dishnetwork. With my Samsung Blueray player and Netflix I have all I need satisfy my needs.
    rocketman67
    Reply Vote

  • Finally dumped cable

    My family and I finally dumped cable two months ago. We miss a few things but we are saving over $100 per month, and have more time to actually DO things instead of watching other people do things.

    We still watch about 10 hours of TV a week via Netflix and Hulu+, at a total cost of only $30/mo. If they get more expensive I'll dump them too... TV is only borderline useful anyway.
    vulcan666
    Reply Vote

  • It's easy to cut the cord!

    We "cut the cord" and dropped cable/satellite about 3 years ago, and we aren't looking back! We have a rooftop antenna that pulls in the big networks in beautiful HD to all of our TVs, and we use Netflix VOD on our Xbox and Samsung Bluray player. I also have a PC hooked up to one of our HDTVs for hulu and other internet based VOD.

    My family and I have found ourselves watching less mindless television. We don't watch TV simply "because it's there" any more, we watch only what we really enjoy watching. Our family spends more time talking and playing games with each other, which makes us much better off as a result.

    I think this whole country could use a little less TV in our lives.
    j28n
    Reply Vote

  • Lying about cord cutting!

    The cord cutting numbers are a scheme! I tried to cancel my Comcast cable TV entirely and just get Comcast cable internet(the ONLY broadband available in my apartment). They told me that if I cancelled the TV entirely, my rates would go up $20. If I got the cheapest cable package, which apparently consists of the local broadcast channels in QAM hi-def and TruTV for $10, my internet would stay at $45. This affords them a. The illusion that more people aren't "cutting the cord" and b. That the average price for their broadband is $45 instead of $55 or $65.<br><br>I happen to know that Comcast is still buying a bunch of 100FX transceivers! Over the same fiber, for the same amount they were paying five years ago, they could be running 1000SX. Over the same fiber for what they were paying a decade ago, they could get 10000SR! They are buying the cheapest crap available! Their hardware costs are going down! Their rates are going up! Anyone see a disconnect?
    tkejlboom
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Comcast: TV Everywhere out of beta next month; Cord cutting a myth

    I dumped CC last April for Directv (included in a Verizon bundle) Most od the channels I watch are FUll HD, With a dvr, I can watch what I like whenever... It looks great on my 55" HDtv. Oh yea, Redbox for any movies for a buck. Oh yea forget about $4.95 and up for a movie.
    Jaytmoon
    Reply Vote
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