Winter Is Coming to the Cable Industry

[Commentary] With more than 22 million pay TV subscribers nationwide, Comcast is known by most people as a cable TV -- not broadband -- provider. Yet in its last quarterly conference call, Comcast announced the company’s broadband subscribers surpassed its number of cable-TV subscribers for the first time in company history. In the first quarter of 2015, Comcast gained 407,000 Internet-service subscribers while shedding 8,000 video subscribers -- the continuation of a shift long under way, a trend we’ve seen quarter after quarter. The cable industry has had to reinvent itself as viewing habits evolve.

[Shawn DuBravac is Chief Economist at the Consumer Electronics Association]