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Cable Has the Edge Over Telcos - Barron's

Cable is prevailing because in the short term, the telcos still have a long way to go. A robust multichannel video platform cannot be built & market developed overnight. It takes years. Kudos to Verizon for its FiOS effort. Over time, it will compete & eventually surpass cable in offering a robust platform to consumer. But in the meantime, it will continue to lose copper-based lines. This conclusion does not take a rocket scientist.

In contract, AT&T U-Verse is a loser, & has been from day one. AT&T is too conservative in their investment, poor on execution, to compete with cable for the foreseeable future. They, too, will continue to lose subs relying upon copper-based services. Their U-Verse will never really take off, nor compete with cable, except on price on a small scale basis. As a result, it's just a matter of time before AT&T finds itself b/w a rock & hard place. And then it may be too late.

Bottom line, we're only in the 4th or 5th inning of this "game." Game's not over 'til the final out, but AT&T is running out of opportunities for every inning it fails to realize that the only way it can compete with cable is by pushing FTTH.