Chase Carey, CEO of DirecTV, says that they’ve felt the competitive impact (certainly not as much as DISH Networks) from telcos and their video offerings. But he’s not too worried, because those gains, by his estimation, are unsustainable. Carey asserts that the discounts and promotions offered by telcos to grab video market share can’t be continued, and that consumers are getting savvier about triple play bundles and the promotional pricing tied to them. There’s certainly some truth to that, but its funny hearing it from a DBS industry that historically had very high (maybe the highest) subscriber acquisition costs when they were in the thick of taking market share from the cable industry. Maybe it’s too early to tell, but it appears that strategy worked for them, since they now collectively have roughly one third of the video subscription market. Why then, can’t telcoTV players follow suit? Carey offered his comments at a Lehman Brothers Wireless and Wireline Conference in New York City on Thursday. Carey said he’s quite comfortable with DirecTV’s position relative to its competitors. He says DirecTV is faring quite well and their successful HD market lead is paying dividends.
