Overview of Comcast

Comcast has maintained strong operating base through which its operations are well integrated from programming to distribution of services. Comcast presently provides video, Internet and phone services, expanding its signal reception sites by building antenna towers and head-ends, microwave facilities, fiber-optic cables and related equipment. Additional regional data centers were opened and equipped with devices that provide e-mail, news and web services to customers with high-speed Internet and digital phone services.

As one of the largest content buyers in the country, programming costs make up a large portion of its expenses. Media companies have recently starting increasing the amount they charge for permission to use their channels. This increase in highlighted in Comcast’s financials, which show that the company’s programming expense increased by 8.4 percent in the first half of 2016 (Levy, 2016, A). Resulting from an increase in retransmission fees and the rising cost of sports programming, Comcast expected its overall programming costs to increase 10 percent throughout the entire year of 2016 (Pelts,

A main component of any company are stakeholders. A stakeholder is a person, group, or organization that has an involvement or interest in a company. Stakeholders can affect a company’s actions as well as be affected by them. There are several key stakeholders in Comcast who play a large role in how the company is ran. These include managers and employees, government agencies and unions, and finally the shareholders.

While Redbox is one of our biggest competitors for viewers, it seems that the DVD rental market is on a downward trend. Therefore it is probably best to focus on companies that are intent on delivering video streaming. One recent player in the market is Sling TV, which is a subsidiary of Direct TV, and they have an offering of content that covers an area of entertainment that we have not been able to crack into (Katzmaier, 2015). They stream live cable programs such as AMC, TNT, TBS, Disney, HGTV, Cartoon Network, and ESPN to users for twenty dollars a month. While they are still subject to commercials and do not offer the ability to fast forward on certain channels, their product offering is one that differs enough from Netflix to cause

Comcast is planning expanding globally. With the main competition with the Dish Television Network. Comcast’s have devised

I work in media sales for Comcast. We work with advertisers and ad agencies in the Chicago Market. To be brief, we sell TV commercials on Cable Networks. The most egregious example of rent seeking would be our make-good process working with ad agencies and/or advertisers. Basically, we have it written in our terms and conditions that we are allowed to make-good dropped spots however we see fit unless specified by the advertiser or ad agency. The savvy buyers are very specific on how dropped spots can be made good. On the surface, seems like this relatively harmless, right? It would make business sense to make-good the dropped spots on like networks and programs. Happy client equals more revenue long-term. The main issue is how our Account Managers are compensated and not the terms and conditions. Our Account Managers main responsibility is to ensure 100% run-rate meaning we can invoice the client for the full amount of the contract. The bonuses of the Account Managers are based on run-rate. The incentive is built in to throw those dropped spots back on wherever they will run to make sure the bonus checks keep coming. A common phrase that is uttered by Account Managers is “I make the dollars good, I don’t make the spots good.”

Comcast practices the ‘Best-cost provider strategy’ in a business model that promotes convince for their customers by offering integrated services all on one bill. “Best-cost provider strategies are a hybrid of low-cost provider and differentiation strategies that aim at satisfying buyer expectations on key quality/features/performance/service attributes and beating customer expectations on price” (Gamble et. All) The elements in the best-cost provider strategy include: bundles with internet, cable and telephone services at varying internet speed, cable channels and levels of telephone service; different cable packages with different channels and promotional deals and

Acquaintances and I commonly discuss the frustration we have with Comcast and their ability to charge ridiculous prices for their services and demonstrate a complete lack of customer service because they dominate the cable industry. This anti-trust issue has been recognized by politicians and various organizations, but nothing has been done to weaken Comcast enough. With significant entry barriers it is understandable why Comcast does not have many competitors, but with an online streaming technology being developed and made available through companies like Netflix, Comcast could have significant competition in the near future. Although there is hope that Netflix and the niche of online streaming will become a problem for Comcast there are several things that must occur first. Netflix has

For the past ten years, Hulu has been among the most competitive online streaming services. Beginning as a joint venture created by 21st Century Fox and NBCUniversal to “distribute their television programming over the Internet,” (Harvard 2017) Hulu has expanded generously, offering the four largest broadcasting networks. In the wake of a new television era, Hulu has the potential to serve as a Multichannel Video Programming Distributor (MVPD). The following write-up includes an analysis of Hulu’s current market standings, including an investigation of growth statistics as well as the company’s overall marketing situation.

Most of the concerns regarding the proposed merger are regarding how large the combined company would be and its overwhelming market share. Comcast, was already the No. 1 cable provider in the U.S., this deal would give them 8 million more subscribers and 30 percent of the market. After the merger the combined company would serve over 30 million homes, and that’s after divesting of about 3 million customers. This deal would have created a company with the most broadband and video subscribers in the nation, along with the ownership of significant programming and/or content.

Comcast is back at it again. In February, the FCC voted on a plan to open up the cable box market to competition, which would allow you the opportunity to buy your own, technologically advanced box. Now you won’t have to put up with those terrible out dated black boxes underneath your television sets. You theoretically would be able to purchase your own box instead of paying monthly fees to rent a huge rectangle that someone had rented for years prior.

I spoke to Tasha Koris our new Comcast Business account manager, and she recommended that we can increase our current internet speed from 100/20 to 150/20 speed. Please see her proposal attachment. Also, I spoke to A & B contracting company, and Jackie will email us our current contract, previous repairs and any recommendations. Last, I contacted our phone contractor and they were able to troubleshoot our phone problem, the phone system should be back on now.

In 1963, with the purchase of American Cable Systems and its 1,200 subscribers in the city of Tupelo, Massachusetts, Ralph Roberts founded Comcast. By 2016 Comcast is one of the nations leading providers of entertainment, communication as well as cable products and services. Nationwide Comcast has over 100,000 employees; each day the company provides over 142 million phone calls, over 136 million emails and over 12 million received voicemails. To date Comcast is the leading cable provider in 19 states nationwide. Since 1963 Comcast has continued to grow with monumental purchases as well as mergers that were blocked by the government in efforts to stop a potential monopoly. Throughout the company’s history, it has grown in three categories Cable, Phone and internet.

In response to the market trend, the company has introduced some new products. Comcast launched a constant guard, a security program designed to help protect its high-speed internet users from online threats. Comcast also launched a beta version of Fancast Xfinity TV, its online television service. The Xfinity service gives subscriber access to hours of content not previously available online. Comcast also took the opportunity of the market trend and added to its mobile content. It released Comcast Mobile app 2.0, which includes a remote DVR programming service. Also, the company launched COMCAST4U, a mobile SMS text service, which gives customers access to frequently accessed account functions. All of these new additions will allow Comcast

In the fall of 2000, Microsoft introduced UltimateTV. Similar to TiVo, Microsoft’s UltimateTV was a DVR add-on to its WebTV service which already offered email and web browsing, things which TiVo did not. UltimateTV also had other features such as recording two shows at once and 30-second skip. Microsoft’s UltimateTV did have some weaknesses, however. This included a lack of time in the DVR market and a relatively small group of current subscribers to their WebTV service. Thus, Microsoft needs to convince consumers not only that UltimateTV is superior to TiVo but that WebTV is a useful tool.