Manfredi, Albert E wrote: > It would be interesting to see the breakdown of these > numbers. For example, what aspects of the digital TV service > did people want most? The VOD? The HD content? The increased > choice? My bet is the latter two more than the first. In my case it was none of the above. About 6 months ago Comcast had someone contact me saying I could not keep my HD-DVR any longer unless I was willing to sign up for their lowest tier digital package for about $11/mo more. There were no extra stations I wanted but I went along with it for the DVR. Then I found even that was just a teaser rate which would go up again last month. So I canceled all of it and dropped back to limited basic again a couple weeks ago. It's too bad though since I'd since given my Tivo to my kids and now I can only do computer recording. But it sort of shows Comcast had quite a push on if they were even willing to hassle existing happy customers. - Tom > http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/03/business/businessspecial3/03comcast.ht > ml?th&emc=3Dth > > ------------------------------ > Comcast Profit Rises 64% on Digital TV and Internet Services > > By KEN BELSON > > Published: August 3, 2005 > > The Comcast Corporation, the country's largest cable > provider, said yesterday that profits jumped 64 percent in > the second quarter, buoyed by demand for digital television > and high-speed Internet services. > > The company, which has 21.4 million television subscribers, > earned $430 million, or 19 cents a share, in the quarter > that ended June 30, compared with $262 million, or 12 cents > a share, in the same period last year. > > Comcast is a bellwether for the industry, and like its > rivals it has been trying to sign up more customers for > digital television packages that provide high-definition > programming, more channels and access to video-on-demand. > > It added a better-than-expected 284,000 digital television > subscribers in the quarter. As a result, 9.1 million, or > 43 percent, of its customers now have digital services, > which typically cost $10 to $15 a month more than basic > cable plans. At the same time, Comcast lost 77,000 basic > cable customers, about twice what analysts had expected. > > ... > ------------------------------ > > It would be interesting to see the breakdown of these > numbers. For example, what aspects of the digital TV service > did people want most? The VOD? The HD content? The increased > choice? My bet is the latter two more than the first. > > If they lost basic cable customers, to whom did they lose > these to? My bet would be mostly DBS, but this population > would be what DTT should go after. Those who bail out of > basic cable would likely be more attracted to DTT than to > NTSC, thanks to DTT's potential for greater choice and its > HD content. At least some of those who drop basic cable > might choose DTT over DBS (assuming that DBS is where > they're going). > > Bert > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: > > - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at > FreeLists.org > > - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word > unsubscribe in the subject line. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.