The nation’s two biggest cable companies — Comcast and Charter Communications — lost broadband customers in the second quarter. Inside Towers reported Comcast didn’t add broadband customers for the first time in company history, and Charter lost 21,000 subscribers.
Charter CEO Thomas Rutledge attributes the decline to the “discontinuation of the Emergency Broadband Benefit program and additional definitional requirements of the Affordable Connectivity Program.” TechDirt reported that Charter’s service was advertised to low-income Americans via the COVID subsidy program.
Although these two cable giants serve roughly 63 million Americans in what TechDirt labels a “broadband monopoly,” market saturation is having an impact. Cablecos are seeing increased competition from 5G fixed wireless and low-orbit satellite services.
The cable behemoths may see a windfall soon through COVID relief and the new infrastructure bill, according to TechDirt, with funding distributed to states by the FCC and NTIA. Cable lobbyists are encouraging states to pass laws banning funding to competitors. They are also challenging community broadband efforts and local competitor grant applications. Still, up to 40 million Americans remain unserved.
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