Cable deal is dead
NEW YORK — Even if Comcast’s $45.2 billion bid for Time Warner Cable is dead, consolidation among the companies that pipe in our TV, phone and Internet will carry on.
Combining the No. 1 and No. 2 U.S. cable companies would have put nearly 30 percent of TV and about 55 percent of broadband subscribers under one roof, along with NBC Universal. That appeared to be too much concentration for regulators.
Bloomberg News and The New York Times both said Thursday Comcast is planning to drop its bid, citing unidentified people with knowledge of the matter. Comcast and Time Warner Cable declined to comment on the reports.
But cable companies are likely to keep merging as online video options proliferate, the number of cable and satellite TV subscribers slips and costs rise for the shows, sports and movies piped to subscribers.
At the same time, there will be more competition for young customers seeking stand-alone Internet and mobile video offerings and cheaper TV channel packages.
This is already happening. Verizon’s FiOS is trying smaller, customizable TV bundles, while HBO has launched an online version of its content, HBO Now, that doesn’t require a cable TV subscription.
“I don’t think it’s the demise of the cable industry. But its complete dominance of distribution is over,” said Randy Giusto, a media industry analyst.
One of the concerns consumer advocates and competitors had with the Comcast deal was it could undermine the streaming video industry that is reshaping TV. Comcast could, for example, require onerous payments from new online-only video providers for connecting to its network. Dish, the satellite TV company behind the new Web video service Sling TV, and Netflix opposed the deal.