The other day, I was talking to a person who was a trainer for the local cable company. As you probably know, people who install cable services really need to know a lot to get the job done, and it takes training and an apprenticeship period to ensure quality and technician success. My acquaintance noticed that since his cable company no longer has a monopoly, and there is new competition in town, many of his company’s technicians have been recruited by others.
Still, each company has different systems and the facilities are slightly different. Often these technicians are independent contractors and they go to work for the other company for a while, they leave and they come back. This gives the first cable company good competitive intelligence, and it’s much easier to rehire someone who’s already been trained than the expensive training and trial period to get them up and running if they’re new.
Some might say that the cable industry has certainly had a hot run here in the United States, and most of it is due to special treatment, barriers to entry, and good friends in government who have streamlined the laws in their favor. Still, there is competition from cell phone networks and Internet TV-type services. Right now they can’t really compete because of bandwidth issues, but in the future they’ll be able to send more information faster, they’ll solve those issues. So a lot of consumers are unhooking, they’re cutting the cable line, so to speak.
Still, in general, the cable companies have a better price and have been offering packages of services such as Internet service through cable, telephone service and also television. If you have one of those, you’ll likely opt for bundled service, which could even include Wi-Fi in your own home. In fact, my acquaintance and I also discussed what Google was doing in Topeka, Kansas, with extremely fast Internet service that could also provide voice communication, television, and the fastest Internet on the planet.
Will it be able to compete with the future of 4G or even 5G wireless? Each technology competes on its own merits and on price. Every new technology is disruptive, but the cable companies have a good thing going for them and seem to claim to be somewhat recession-proof. If someone has lost their job and spends a lot of time at home, they watch more television. When people have a job and a good income, they request the premium service with more expensive bundled services with all channels. Either way, the cable company makes money, or so they say.
Many industry analysts believe that cable television companies are somewhat recession-proof, but nothing is guaranteed as technology rises rapidly and there is so much disruption in the world of high-tech communication, who knows, only time will tell. In fact, I hope you will please consider all of this and think about it.
