Pat:
Thanks for the post to the excellent article. Its quite timely given I recently unloaded my investment in T after one year of it doing La Vida Muerta. I am of the opinion that T is in between a rock & a hard place as the article implies. Its broadband strategy over cable is not succeeding in accordance with a timetable that is necessary to offset the bleeding of profits from its long distance network. Hence, the recent push into fixed wireless & the strategy to issue a wireless tracking stock to appease investors.
The problem T faces is not only political & regulatory, which is why it has responded to the open access in the way it has, but unfortunately technical & customer service related because most of the plant T purchased from TCI has a long history of performance problems & lack of confidence among subscribers. IOW, its gonna take a lot of doing to convince these customers to hand over their local phone service to the cable company. Its unfortunate, but IMHO, a reality.
On the broadcast front, I think going forward the MSOs are going to have to confront the growing interest in the HD format, particularly among higher end customers. Here on LA's westside, the MSO (Century, now Adelphia) has a history of failing to understand the customer & their needs. Just the other day I was on the phone with my contact at Adelphia. He asked me why after lighting a fiber loop recently installed around Beverly Hills why only 30 customers signed up for @Home service out of 1000 homes passed. I told him its marketing. They don't understand their customer base, what they want, what they expect, & do an abysmal job of marketing what services they do have. He was at a complete loss of the broadcast viewing & Internet habits of this niche market. Yet Adelphia has recently spent mucho bucks installing a fiber loop around this City, deferring the opportunity to deliver highly sought broadband services to a wider market in the surrounding communities in LA. IMHO, I mistep. I sense there is an attitude "if I build it, they will come." It don't work like that, especially when the competition is heating up from the RBOCs (SBC) and the DBS providers (DirecTV & DISH). JMO.
Pat, are you aware of any way I can get hold of a ticket to the cable show w/o shoving out $500? I'm interesting in attending only one day & am presently making inquiries into my limited sources. Any advice would be appreciated. |
