My Two Bits.....Comcast Fights FCC Regulation.

Boston wants the FCC to regulate cable rates in the city, and Comcast doesn’t want the regulation. No surprise there. The public interest has always been at odds with those of a private corporation such as Comcast even though because of it’s unique pipe line it operates more a utility as such it business model is like that of the water or electric company. Comcast’s argument is that there’s competition in Boston and thus no need for the FCC to dictate its rates to Boston consumers. I don’t have a problem with a company trying to turn a profit in a fair and competitive market place. The cable industry is not the fair and competitive market place, that the folks over at Comcast like to think it is. In fact there are such few options to cable that it becomes like a breathe of fresh air to the public when someone like Verizon brings their Fios offering to town that people feel they now have a choice, though however small that choice might be. The worst part is that the big only get bigger. Comcast swallows NBC? How is that competitive? The only thing that this deal does is give Comcast a voice in the price of the content that it delivers to the public. Which it should see as those to whom it provides a SERVICE, and not to be exploited for private gain. It’s almost as though the cable company should be owned by the public since it provides a service that few companies can competitively provide. But the evolution of technology has a way of making companies pay that seek to monopolize it. Case in point Netflix. People are turning to services like Netflix in order to escape the cable giants grip. The public wants fairly priced choice when it comes to entertainment options, and service providers like Netflix provide that option. But if Comcast wants to take advantage of its scale of size then it should offer al-carte programming, or follow Netflix’s lead and change its business model to one of streaming, subscription based, though the trend and the business model is that consumers pay for everything that they view. Do you want to watch the latest movie provided to you On-Demand? Then you’ll pay for that, or even if its a movie and show that has not been on in awhile, you’ll end up paying for watching it. What services like Netflix or YouTube movie rentals will do is push the price down for content. Tech will be used to make movies and shows more cheaply. The entertainment industry will look to cloud solutions as well. And the cable industry will start to feel increasing heat over the prices it charges for services. Then the public can expect changes to the pricing structure of the cable industry.

Conclusion. The cable industry will survive though it will be slow to adapt to new technologies and consumers will continue to complain about their cable providers.
That my two bits. Surfs up!..................Eric