A discussion about the Telecommunication Industry

Comcast, the largest cable television company in the country, said it expects to lose video customers in 2008 as competitive and economic pressure mounts.
The comments came from Comcast CFO Michael.

"When we see a little bit of a rise in both churn and bad debt, that indicates there's an economic issue," he told investors at a UBS media conference. Churn is industry speak for customer losses.

Angelakis said Comcast expected to lose more basic video customers in 2007 and into 2008.  Most of those customers have left Comcase and signed up for from new video services from Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T Inc , as well as satellite TV operators DirecTV Group Inc and EchoStar Communications Corp .

"We will fight in the streets and do everything we can for retention but I think the expectation that I have is we will lose some share in the video side," said Angelakis.

Competition from Verizon’s FiOS, which is offering free 19” HD television sets to new customers of its video service, and AT&T U-Verse was the major reason for Comcast’s decline.

Richard Greenfield, an analyst at Pali Research said "Comcast simply did not expect the level of competitive marketing spend that has occurred this year."

As a former customer of Comcast and Cablevision, and a currect Verizon Fios subscriber, I can easily see why Comcast is losing customers.  FiOS is superior in every way.  If you live in a FiOS area I urge you to give them a try, you won't regret it.