Comcast vice chairman and CFO Michael Angelakis mirrored the article called “The Wisdom of Comcast: Broadband & Content” that we did several weeks ago.
Angelakis told an industry group that the company is not worried about threats from OTT services because they’ll have to use two of Comcast’s most profitable assets: broadband and content. Comcast operates one of the world’s largest broadband networks and is adding to its size with its offer to acquire Time Warner Cable. Comcast owns NBCUniversal, one of the world’s largest content companies with major operations in free and pay TV and, through its Universal operations, as a major producer of movies and TV shows.
Angelakis told the audience at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, “The consumer is evolving. Our goal is to evolve with our customer base.” He said Comcast sees OTT as complementing its pay TV services, not as competition. He continued: “Our goal is to serve those customers. Ultimately, if people want to have video, whether they live in San Francisco or Philadelphia or Boston, or hopefully, New York or LA, we’ll provide those services anywhere, anytime.”
He said Comcast is not concerned about the CBS All –Access service and the upcoming HBO Now (to which Apple iTunes has a three-month exclusive) because the products are in the “embryonic” stages. They might even show the value of Comcast’s pay TV because of their cumulative monthly costs.
Angelakis said, “We have thought about more flexible packaging, more streaming and lighter packages in order to provide those alternatives and those choices to our customers. We have to evolve and we have to pivot appropriately and I think we will do that.”
Angelakis said Comcast is improving its customer service and its goal is to offer a “transformative” customer experience. “Our head is not in the sand. I understand the skepticism.” He said the company plans to use new technologies such as its X1 operating system to improve the customer experience: “Our goal is to take our technical innovation and turn it into a customer experience innovation. We are determined to change the experience for our customers. Not incremental but transformative. We’ve actually done a fair job incrementally, but that’s not good enough and that won’t suffice. If we really want to be an industry leader, if we really want to leapfrog competitors, if we really want to be best in class, we have to have the best customer experience both from the products and the service side.”
This first ran in Rider Research’s Online Reporter