Cable execs tread carefully on web

Cory Bergman May 8th, 2007

With new broadband channels popping up left and right on the web, cable execs on a panel at NCTA said operators should continue to experiment online but with an understanding it could ultimately undercut their core business. Which leads to this interesting quote. “In our view, the Internet, while it should be available and open to the networks and [is] not a totally inappropriate avenue, should be supportive and promotional to the core linear networks,” said Comcast Executive VP of Content Acquisition Matt Bond. I look at this misplaced idea from two directions. First, if cable TV doesn’t start allowing consumers to buy channels a la carte (see below), they will only expedite the exodus from cable TV to internet-delivered TV in the coming years. Second, by using broadband channels to support and promote their “core linear channels,” they may be overlooking unique web-focused opportunities that would ultimately carve out larger online revenue positions that they’ve ever anticipated. Yet at the same time, Comcast has been the most aggressive cable operator pursuing new opportunities online — recently acquiring Fandango and readying a new site called Fancast.