Future of Cable Might Not Include TV
[Philip Lelyveld comment: 10 years ago some of us at the Studios told the cable industry strat planners that, rather than think of the term 'dumb pipe' as pejorative, consider embracing it and turning 'best dumb pipe' into your core competency. Maybe that time has finally arrived.]
Predicting that transmission of TV will move to the Internet eventually, Cablevision Systems Corp. CVC -0.46% Chief Executive James Dolan says "there could come a day" when his company stops offering television service, making broadband its primary offering.
His comments may be the first public acknowledgment by a cable CEO of the possibility of such a shift, long speculated about by analysts. It comes amid growing tensions between cable operators and channel owners over rising programming costs, highlighted Friday night when Time Warner Cable Inc. dropped CBS from its channel lineup TWC -0.40% in major markets such as New York and Los Angeles.
If cable operators drop TV service, charging only for broadband, channel owners would have to sell directly to the public or through Web outlets.
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