Sound-bite machine Laura Martin is still
urging independent cable operators to protect their businesses against
rapacious content providers.
Speaking at the Independent
Show in Baltimore, a gathering of small-sized cable operator executives,
the Needham & Co. media analyst urged them to focus on higher-margin
businesses than their core video offerings.
That means broadband services, mobile products and commercial customers.
Laura Martin of Needham & Co.
Moderator Corey McCarthy of the American Cable Association
got her going by reminding her that at
a February 2009 conference she got attention by declaring capitalism was
dead. (It wasn't capable, alone, of bringing the ailing economy back was her
point.)
"What's dead this year is video," she said. "It's a very sad
thing. The programmers are destroying the video business."
Consumers are gravitating to Internet and mobile applications, she said, so
operators should focus on mobile services, commercial services (because
business customers pay higher margins) and modems, she said.
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