Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

The Triple-Play Bundle Is Dead, But This Surprisingly Popular Bundle Just Might Stop Cable Companies' Bleeding

Market research outfit Parks Associates offers up a glimpse of the bundle's penetration: As of the end of the first quarter of this year, 19% of U.S. broadband subscribers also enjoy wireless/mobile service offered by the same provider.

It's not a lot, admittedly. But put it in perspective. Charter's Spectrum only began offering mobile phone service in mid-2018. It now serves nearly 2.7 million mobile customers. Comcast's Xfinity Mobile platform only launched in mid-2017, and it's already signed up 3.1 million wireless subscribers. The portion of domestic broadband customers who have bundled their high-speed internet service with a mobile plan has grown from only around 11% in early 2019, according to Parks Associates' data, to the aforementioned current figure of 19%.

Parks Associates indicates the average cost of a broadband/mobile combo is $128 per month. With stand-alone broadband service costing an average of $64 per month, the other $64 of the combo's total cost is on par with a typical wireless service plan's monthly cost. Although the mobile service arena is highly competitive, at least we know that all the major names in the mobile telecom business are profitable. Given how the cable television industry has been on the defensive for years, conversely, it's not always clear if there's still any real profit to be gleaned by being in the business.

From the article, "The Triple-Play Bundle Is Dead, But This Surprisingly Popular Bundle Just Might Stop Cable Companies' Bleeding" by James Brumley. 

Previously In The News

Meet The Texas A&M Grad And DVR Inventor Who Turned Us Into Binge TV Watchers

Roku is the most popular brand of streaming media players in the U.S., according to a study by Parks Associates, a Dallas market research and consulting firm that specializes in consumer technology pr...

AT&T's Mega-Deal With Time Warner Banks On Your Connected Future

"You have industries that weren't traditionally impacted by each other all colliding and trying to figure out how to benefit from this change, while at the same time trying to protect their existing c...

Do you share your TV logins with friends and family? Cable operators are coming after you

About one-third of internet users stream cable TV without paying for it by using credentials of someone they don't live with, according to Parks Associates. The TV industry's losses from password shar...

Should AT&T listen to activist investor or stay the course?

HBO Max has become the bellwether that investors are watching to see whether AT&T can execute its entertainment vision. “Out of all their financials, it’s just a small part of AT&T,” said Brett Sap...