Last week, Comcast decided to exact some vengeance on internet subscribers who have abandoned its cable TV service.
While Comcast is providing significant internet speed boosts to its TV subscribers in certain markets (including Houston, Texas; Portland, Oregon; and southwestern Washington state), customers who have only internet service won’t get those upgrades. Given that Comcast has been raising internet prices with the justification that customers are getting more for their money, cord-cutters are effectively being punished with stagnant speeds.
The move probably won’t stop Comcast from bleeding TV subscribers—it lost 96,000 of them last quarter—but it does underscore how cable providers are becoming desperate to prop up the kind of double- and triple-play deals that were once a cornerstone of their business. While Comcast holds internet speeds for ransom, other companies are creating better service bundles outside the cable system, allowing cord-cutters to save money even after they lose the bundle discounts that cable once provided. [ Further reading: The best TV streaming services ]
Meet the new double play
Now that TV service is uncoupling itself from cable, wireless carriers are starting to step in with bundle deals that cater to cord-cutters.
Last year, for instance, AT&T started providing a $15-per-month discount on DirecTV Now service for customers with certain unlimited wireless data plans, knocking the base price of DirecTV Now down to just $20 per month. When AT&T launches a more limited version of its TV service for $15 per month later this year, wireless subscribers will get it for free. (That service could be more of a PR play by AT&T as it tries to acquire Time Warner, but that’s another story.)
Meanwhile, other wireless carriers have started assembling TV deals of their own. T-Mobile offers free Netflix (an $11-per-month value) for subscribers with unlimited data plans and at least two active lines, and briefly threw in a free year of MLB TV streaming (normally $116) when the baseball season began. Sprint’s unlimited plans include a free subscription to Hulu, which normally costs $8 per month.
Expect to see even more wireless double-play deals in the future, especially as carriers try to market their upcoming 5G wireless networks. T-Mobile has already announced plans to build its own TV service this year, fueled by an acquisition of IPTV startup Layer3 TV. Verizon has also been hinting at a TV offering, which it now says will launch later this year alongside its initial 5G network.
It’d be foolish to view wireless carriers as saviors—they’re often just as underhanded and anti-consumer as wired internet providers—but at least they’ve recognized that bundling their service with TV is a natural fit for a growing audience of cable TV defectors.
New kinds of bundles
Even if you don’t adopt a double play deal from a wireless carrier, there are an increasing number of ways to bundle and save outside of the cable TV world.
While Comcast is providing significant internet speed boosts to its TV subscribers in certain markets (including Houston, Texas; Portland, Oregon; and southwestern Washington state), customers who have only internet service won’t get those upgrades. Given that Comcast has been raising internet prices with the justification that customers are getting more for their money, cord-cutters are effectively being punished with stagnant speeds.The move probably won’t stop Comcast from bleeding TV subscribers—it lost 96,000 of them last quarter—but it does underscore how cable providers are becoming desperate to prop up the kind of double- and triple-play deals that were once a cornerstone of their business. While Comcast holds internet speeds for ransom, other companies are creating better service bundles outside the cable system, allowing cord-cutters to save money even after they lose the bundle discounts that cable once provided. [ Further reading: The best TV streaming services ]
Meet the new double play
Now that TV service is uncoupling itself from cable, wireless carriers are starting to step in with bundle deals that cater to cord-cutters.
Last year, for instance, AT&T started providing a $15-per-month discount on DirecTV Now service for customers with certain unlimited wireless data plans, knocking the base price of DirecTV Now down to just $20 per month. When AT&T launches a more limited version of its TV service for $15 per month later this year, wireless subscribers will get it for free. (That service could be more of a PR play by AT&T as it tries to acquire Time Warner, but that’s another story.)
Meanwhile, other wireless carriers have started assembling TV deals of their own. T-Mobile offers free Netflix (an $11-per-month value) for subscribers with unlimited data plans and at least two active lines, and briefly threw in a free year of MLB TV streaming (normally $116) when the baseball season began. Sprint’s unlimited plans include a free subscription to Hulu, which normally costs $8 per month.
Expect to see even more wireless double-play deals in the future, especially as carriers try to market their upcoming 5G wireless networks. T-Mobile has already announced plans to build its own TV service this year, fueled by an acquisition of IPTV startup Layer3 TV. Verizon has also been hinting at a TV offering, which it now says will launch later this year alongside its initial 5G network.
It’d be foolish to view wireless carriers as saviors—they’re often just as underhanded and anti-consumer as wired internet providers—but at least they’ve recognized that bundling their service with TV is a natural fit for a growing audience of cable TV defectors.
New kinds of bundles
Even if you don’t adopt a double play deal from a wireless carrier, there are an increasing number of ways to bundle and save outside of the cable TV world.
by Jared Newman, TechHive | Read more:
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