.tv Why Broadband TV has got cable companies scared?

[ipodxpert]

http://www.thestate.com/101/story/267658.html

About one-third of people who subscribe to cable TV or satellite services said they would drop that service if they could get TV shows they wanted over a broadband computer connection, paying a flat fee.

“Broadcasters are using Internet delivery to figure out where and when people will watch episodes of shows they missed,” he said.

One interesting trend is that a show broadcast on a Tuesday evening during primetime is often watched on the Internet on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays over the lunch hour. This suggests that when people miss a favorite show on TV, they try to watch it from work on a computer while munching a sandwich, Kaufhold said.

 

[RogueWriter]

With my kids schedules, I am always shuffling them off to basketball practice, marching band, a game, a movie, or I end up working late, or once in a while my wife and I actually get to go on a date. So, watching a favorite sitcom or drama at my convenience totally rules.

I often find myself watching through as many of the episodes as I can at one sitting, too.

 

[TheBulldog]

I used to work in the cable and tv industry.

They actually have a higher profit margin on broadband connections. No matter what you read, I can tell you from an insider point of view, the ONLY places they are worried is if they are NOT the major provider of broadband connections and they have competition. Most markets, say those under 500K population, there are only 2 choices for broadband: the cable, or the the telephone company. There are typically only 2.

This conversation has been going on since broadband connections started rolling out, and it always ends with one of those companies hooking up to the customer and they still make money.

The only serious competion is in cities like New York and LA where there are multiple companies with "the last mile" connection. Aside from that, there is satellite, but that connection has always sucked and no one seriously considers it a competitor right now.