While 2016 offered more reasons to cut your cable TV subscription, the year’s telecom mergers and cable maneuvers show that the industry isn’t ready to give up one internet bit.
In March, Charter Communications, which has a technology hub in Greenwood Village, wrapped up its $60 billion purchase of Time Warner Cable to make Charter the nation’s second largest cable TV and internet service provider. In May, Denver’s Liberty Global acquired Cable & Wireless Communications to become the largest cable provider outside the U.S. In October, CenturyLink announced a $34 billion deal to acquire Level 3 Communications, the Broomfield telecom that provides the fiber backbone to much of the world’s internet service.
Internet, obviously, has become the prime attraction for telecoms because you can’t watch Sling TV, DirecTV Now, Playstation Vue or any other new TV service without internet.
Traditional pay-TV companies have had to switch things around. Douglas County’s Dish Network, which owns Sling, introduced the new Flex plan aimed at satellite TV users that adds features popular with the internet TV crowd: Flex, which starts at $30, lets satellite customers pick and choose types of channels and not worry about a ballooning bill at the end of a special offer. Comcast, meanwhile, began capping data in Denver at 1 terabyte per month, but also gave customers the opportunity to spend money the way they want by adding Sling to its X1 set-top box (of which some features are developed in Denver).
How cable will evolve in 2017 is something to watch. But with companies like Comcast and Charter investing and expanding in technology here, cable will continue to be a strength for the Denver area.
“The Denver area is a terrific source of the highly skilled technical workforce we already have and are expanding,” said Bret Picciolo, a Charter spokesman, adding that Charter employs 2,800 people in Colorado. “…Through our investment in and long-term commitment to the area — including our state-of-the-art Greenwood Village facility and 800 new jobs — we’re hoping to make Charter even more of a destination for the area’s top technical talent.”
Read the rest of the top business stories of 2016
- Amazon and Colorado make peace
- Vail buys Whistler Blackcomb
- Voters lift minimum wage
- Towns get creative to solve high country housing crisis
- Chipotle’s less-than-healthy recovery
- Internet shakes up how we watch TV
- A new era for Molson Coors
- R.I.P. Sports Authority
- Cybersecurity firms gain investment as hacks proliferate
- Overtourism becomes an issue
- Denver home prices stay hot, but rent gains cooling
- Energy outlook brightens
