Cable TV spinoff could lead to change

Reckoning in Kabletown “Like many of our colleagues in the media, we are experiencing the effects of the transition in our video businesses. We are working on the best path forward for these assets. To that end, we are now building a new, well-capitalized company that is comprised of our strong, shareholder-owned cable network portfolio, to transform our “It will position itself to take advantage of the opportunities in the media environment.” -Mike Cavanagh comcast CEO Chrome extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/

As a member of corporate Big Media and specifically Comcast NBCUniversalLoud shouters from the top of 30 Rock giving urgent warnings about the impending cable TV apocalypse, who have ridden the cable wave for so long (which they did not create, but are now turning into pretzels as they try to unravel the financial finger trap they set themselves in which they find themselves trapped. A potential Kabletown cabler The spinoff has galvanized analysts and Wall Streeters to credit Cavanagh: He’s a savvy, strategically brilliant, distracting object to dangle in front of investors, but thinking the sinking cable ship is the real problem of the Big Media Industrial complex now. Sure, Kabletown had a good quarter on Media – but that’s only thanks to the OTHER annual Olympics and when you dig deeper into their results you see Parks departments are down more than -5% and streaming birds are. peacock it’s still losing half a billion dollars every quarter. It’s even more troubling for Philly friends: Their main cash cow is quickly running out of milk. Video customers were down 11.5% in Q3 and continue to abandon more Broadband homes each quarter. Broadband sales form the basis of profit centers, and the downward trend is accelerating (albeit relatively* gradually). Comcast lost 5 times as many broadband customers in Q3 as it did a year ago. SO, despite revenue growth of +6.5%, their net revenue fell -10.3% and free cash flow fell like a biscuit tossed out of the Rainbow Room: -15.5% YoY. Shutting down pay TV channels won’t solve Comcast’s real problems. And the problems with 30 Rock will seep into the rest of traditional media. extraordinaryWBD, Fox and Walt Disney Company We sank into the mud with them. The sweet protective financial shell that the Video-Broadband combination provides for the entertainment ecosystem is fading faster with each quarter. Removing cable TV won’t fix what’s really wrong with the “Tech” Tower in Philadelphia or the other ivory towers around Big Media’s cul-de-sac. Only true INNOVATION will achieve this. That’s why the situation for these companies will get worse before it gets better: No matter what they do, they can’t seem to cure the incurable Innovation Stagnation.