In a world where cord cutting and streaming services have blurred the picture for the pay-TV industry, Matt Strauss, Comcast‘s top video executive, believes the key to keeping customers hooked up may come down to just one word: bundles.
Bundling everything from video and high-speed internet to a forthcoming wireless phone network offers a better value and experience than stand-alone services, Strauss said. And it makes cable giant Comcast more than a pay-TV provider.
“We don’t see ourselves as a cable company,” Strauss said. “We see ourselves as a technology and communication-entertainment company, much more in the consideration set of Apple and Google than more of the traditional cable and satellite providers.”
The strategy may already be paying dividends.
Pay-TV providers, including cable and satellite, lost a record 762,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2017 — five times as many as the same period last year, according to research firm MoffettNathanson. Meanwhile, over-the-top streaming services such as Dish Network’s Sling TV and DirecTV Now together added more than 300,000 subscribers.
