Comcast Plans Wireless Service Rollout in 2017, CEO Tells Investor Conference

Comcast plans to roll out a wireless offering in early or mid-2017, based on its Verizon mobile virtual network operator (see 1605170057) and integrating Comcast's Wi-Fi hot spots, CEO Brian Roberts said Tuesday at a Goldman Sachs investor conference. The company in July promoted Greg Butz from Comcast Cable executive vice president-sales and marketing operations to president, Comcast Mobile, Roberts said. He said Butz and a team of about 150 have been readying the wireless offering. Roberts didn't say if the company would broadly roll out the offering next year or beta test it, saying it would be "an in-footprint strategy."

Roberts also said his company is in the beta stage of its planned integration of Netflix into its X1 platform (see 1607050061) and it should be rolled out across the cable operator's entire footprint by Thanksgiving. "You won't have to do anything, it will just show up," he said, saying it's in talks with other subscription VOD providers about similar affiliations. "Now we have a nice template." Technology in place with widespread X1 rollout -- with the user interface's penetration to be roughly 50 percent by year's end, Roberts said.

Meanwhile, CBS' SVOD strategy sees it having changed Showtime's schedule so new shows premiere almost monthly instead of two per quarter as a route to keep down churn, and CBS All Access will use original programming to keep subscribers, CEO Les Moonves said. He said about 65 percent of CBS All Access viewing now is "catch up," with viewers binging on every episode of current shows, while another 20 percent are viewing its library of old content and 10-15 percent are live-streaming current shows. That configuration will likely change when the network "comes out with its big guns, which is the original programming," Moonves said, saying the first such content will roll out in a couple of weeks.

He also said the explosion of distribution outlets, such as SVOD, has led to a change in CBS Productions philosophy. "We are open to selling to everybody," Moonves said. "I would hate it if we had a massive hit on NBC ... but we would make a lot of money." He said the basic cable market's increased focus on original content slightly hurt the market for syndicated content, but that has been "more than made up" by SVOD demand for syndicated content. Basic cable networks "are all doing more originals, but they are still buying" syndicated programming, he said.

Despite a Q2 uptick in churn tied to a price hike, Netflix's thesis -- that it can raise prices over time slowly as it adds more original content, using differentiated price tiers -- "is intact," Chief Financial Officer David Wells said. The portion of subscribers who rejoin relatively soon after dropping the service is "fairly high," at 33 to 50 percent, he said. Wells said the SVOD provider remains focused on a content mix of half original exclusive content and half licensed content, with the push for more of its own content in response to over-the-top competition and as a means of ensuring access to content.