New Technology TV

Competition between the cable TV industry and the satellite TV industry has been rampant, but the satellite TV industry has finally found a way to get an edge on the cable TV industry. This strategy isn't so much about program offerings or technology, but rather about the fact that cable TV technology goes along well with broadband cable Internet access and home phone service. Because of the similarities of these technologies, the latest trend among cable TV providers is to bundle their cable TV service with broadband Internet access and home phone service. One of the primary companies to do this has been Comcast. While cable TV, high speed Internet access, and home phone service may not look very much alike to the lay person, Comcast was quick to see the similarities among the three. All three services are dependent on cables and phone lines (which are really just cables when you get down to it) entering the home. Both phone service and Internet are based on data moving both in and out of the home, and now with Comcast's inclusion of video on demand technology in its digital cable TV packages, cable TV has the same characteristic. With those similarities it just makes sense to have all three of these services rolled into one.

The benefits to Comcast of this strategy are numerous. For one thing, it allows the company to make money off of three different services instead of just one. It's also relatively cheap to provide all three of these services because the same technician can install all three of them at once and the cable TV and broadband Internet connection take place over the same cable connection (and there's a good chance that the phone service does as well). Most importantly though, the fact that Comcast can offer all three of these services all at once means that it has a real competitive advantage over the satellite TV companies that seek to take customers away from Comcast. After all, satellite TV companies can't offer home phone service at all, and the high speed Internet service that they do offer is enormously expensive, not as fast, and plagued by technical inadequacies that cable based broadband Internet access isn't subject to.

There are also plenty of benefits to consumers who opt for Comcast's bundled services. For example, consumers will have the convenience of dealing with only one bill every month for the services that they rely on the most. The fact that Comcast discounts all three of the separate services makes the bill even easier to stomach. Another money saving benefit can be seen from all of the extras that are built into the phone service in particular. Unlike the calling plans from conventional phone companies, Comcast's digital voice service provides a lot of extra features built in at no extra cost. For example, you'll get twelve convenient features- like caller ID, call forwarding, and call waiting- built into your calling plan at no extra charge. You'll also get a free voice mail account that you can check online. The most valuable money saving feature that this service provides though is the fact that all of your domestic long distance calls will be free.

Bundled services from Comcast Cable TV are clearly a winning idea both for the company and its customers.