Is this the Demise of the Cable Companies

Whew, it’s been a couple of tough weeks for the cable companies, in particular Comcast.

• First, DirecTV’s launching of 47 High Definition channels along with the promise to launch another 50 or so by years end.

• J.D Powers released a survey recently ranking DirecTV as “Highest in Customer Satisfaction Among Satellite/Cable TV Subscribers” in three out of the four regions of the continental United States.

• A disgruntled consumer launches a website called, Comcastmustdie.com.

• Or how about the little old lady who took a hammer to her local cable company office and went ballistic! (see Taking a Whack Against Comcast)

Major, big-time OUCH!

I guess I am not all that surprised. We all have a cable horror story or twenty to tell. (Note to self, do a blog on my cable horror story.) It seems that with all the emphasis on good customer service these days, customer satisfaction in the cable industry is not getting much better. Being in the custom installation business we are installing new high definition TV’s daily. This means that our customers are upgrading their cable service to the High Definition tier. I have never heard the level of customer dissatisfaction I am hearing from my customers lately. Just this week I had a customer tell me that her cable company in Rhode Island does not have standard High Definition cable boxes with HDMI connections. The only way she could get an HDMI connection on her high Definition box was to get the box with the DVR capability and she would need to pay $10.00 a month for the service even though she doesn’t want the service. She reluctantly decided to accept the non-HDMI High Definition box. Then she was told she had to pay a $50.00 installation fee. She asked if she could pick it up and have her custom installer hook it up since he was going to be installing her new TV anyway and customer service rep said they did not have these in the office, they were only on the trucks and she would need to make an appointment so the cable technician could install it. She can’t wait for Verizon FIOS to come to her town, and it will.

It’s time for the cable companies to change their culture. Competition is here, customer service is still king and not just a popular buzz phrase anymore. Consumers are fighting back not only with purchasing power but with new tools like the internet. So is this the demise of the cable companies? I for one truly hope not, but I do hope that it is a real call to action for all cable TV providers to get their act together and listen to the drumbeat.

I Want My Digital Freedom

The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) has brought its first music file sharing lawsuit to trial against a consumer and won. What may be seen as a victory by some is more likely to be seen by most consumers as an assault on their digital freedoms. After all, many of us lived through a time where making a copy of a record, cassette tape or a VHS copy of a movie for personal use was common practice. I personally had always made a backup copy of my music in case my tapes or CD’s were stolen. I also made a copy to keep my original in pristine condition while my copy took the abuse of traveling in my car. Well according to the RIAA’s lawyers this is illegal too.

For those of you who have not heard, the RIAA successfully prosecuted a woman for sharing over 1700 songs on KAZAA the now defunct file sharing service. She was fined $222,000. The RIAA has notified approximately 26,000 consumers that they have been implicated in illegal music file sharing. Most consumers are settling with the RIAA for $2000 - $3000. This was the first consumer that chose to fight the charges in court.

I fully support copyright protection for the artist. File sharing does take potential earning from artists who deserves to be duly compensated for their work. What I do have an issue with is the RIAA’s archaic methods of dealing with the issue. File sharing is not going away and is in fact it is increasing year after year. The recording industry is losing billions of dollars in potential sales because they are not staying ahead of technology not because of the relatively small amount of file sharing. They choose to alienate the music buying consumers they should be trying to convince to buy their products. The recording industry needs to make it extremely easy and inexpensive for consumers to procure their products. One of the recording industry largest, Universal, has embarked on a DRM free experiment.
Another innovative idea is gaining some traction. It is called Voluntary Collective Licensing of Music File Sharing. The idea has been put forth by the Electronics Frontier Foundation. This link will take you their site which explains their very innovative proposal which I believe would benefit all parties involved. The consumer would pay a very small fee to freely download music, the recording industry and the artist would be fairly compensated for their products. If you care about your digital rights and the right of artists this is an effort you should get behind. Consumers unite and spread the good word. Last time I checked the customer was still king.