Residential Fiber Marketing: Do You Need TV?

The best data I have seen on broadband and TV has come from Cable One (top 10 MSOs), since the CEO there declared 3 years ago that it was going to de-emphasize TV and focus on broadband.

When Cable One acquired NewWave cable in 2016, they released this data. 428k homes passed, 23.5% video penetration, 25.8% broadband penetration. Overall Cable One has a 31% broadband penetration of homes passed.

Light Reading reports, "Cable One's strategy to focus on broadband and de-emphasize pay-TV continued to play out in Q1 2019, as the operator saw its average revenue per unit (ARPU) reach an industry high among its US peers. ... A residential broadband ARPU of $70.80 in Q1 made Cable One the first publicly traded US cable operator to eclipse the $70 mark, according to Craig Moffett, an analyst with MoffettNathanson."

Cable One's average data usage at the end of Q1 was 290 gigabytes per month.

4 Reasons TV is Changing & Declining:

1. The term cable is becoming extinct [HERE]
2. Comcast and Cox have added Amazon Prime and Netflix as a channel.
3. Hotels now have channels on the TV to login to Netflix, Amazon and Hulu to reduce the TV costs for the company.
4. "The firm said that about 31 million U.S. consumers, 12% of the adult population are Cord Nevers (CNs)." [source]

It isn't about the triple play as much as it is giving your customers options and value -- and explaining that value.  Choice & Value.

Gigabit penetration nationwide is just 6%, but it gets them to buy higher speeds.

• Do you customers have a computer? Tablets? Alexa? Hardware-as-a-service, folks!
• Do you rent Apple TVs or Roku?
• If you sell fixed wireless, do you offer HDTV antennas?
• If you sell voice, do you block Robocalls?

WI-FI

Business or home wi-fi is very important. Comcast knows it.

U.S. broadband households now have an average of 9.1 connected devices,” said Brad Russell, Research Director, Connected Home, Parks Associates.

BRANDING!

Charter re-branded as Spectrum. Cable One is re-branding as Sparklight. Verizon has FiOS.

• Do you have a product brand?
• Did you have a service launch plan for your fiber?
• Are you using CRM?
• What tactics are you using to reach customers? List them.
• How are you tracking each campaign/tactic?

Pew Research data on household demographics - Home broadband use by income [here]

About 65% or more than 164 million adults in the United States play video games, according to a new video game demographics report from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). [source]

TELEHEALTH:"Nearly a quarter (22%) of physicians have used telehealth to see patients, and a new telehealth forecast suggests that 61% of doctors will use it by 2022." [source]

Microsoft's Airband Program is looking for partners. AT&T's FirstNet wants more rural partners.