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Netflix is now worth more than Comcast

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Re: Netflix is now worth more than Comcast

#51
post #26

Traditional TV cut its own throat by expanding commercial air time to the point where customers are actively looking for and consuming alternatives. Rather then address the issue of why traditional TV is being rejected, Comcast is trying to coerce its members into subsidizing TV by making their subscription bundles more competitive then simply getting an internet connection. That won't do much in the long run as peop…

What Comcast doesn't mention is that when you get a TV bundle to save on internet costs the fees they tack on for TV increase the monthly bill by around 40% of the advertised rate. Bundling TV is actually more expensive when you look at the total bill but people buy according to the advertised rate vs. the actual bill.

40% is not accurate.

Re: Netflix is now worth more than Comcast

#52

What's more shocking to me is that Netflix is worth more than Disney. Just look at the list of Disney subsidiaries[1], then look at how bad the average Netflix original movie is and then tell me if the market caps makes any sense at all. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assets_owned_by_Disney

I think Netflix is overvalued, but I have a hard time seeing Disney as a stock that grows significantly from here.

Re: Netflix is now worth more than Comcast

#53
post #42
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What Comcast doesn't mention is that when you get a TV bundle to save on internet costs the fees they tack on for TV increase the monthly bill by around 40% of the advertised rate. Bundling TV is actually more expensive when you look at the total bill but people buy according to the advertised rate vs. the actual bill.

There's no way that's true unless you live in a really messed up market, taxation-wise. Here in the SF bay area I have gigabit internet through comcast and allow them to shove their "basic" cable TV service in my general direction (it's not even hooked up) because it 'saves' me $5 or $10 or whatever per month on my internet charges. (All I know is the total bill is $144 which is less than the advertised rate of $169…

I looked at my bill. I pay $140 per month for cable and internet. Actual bill is $181. So more like 30%.

Re: Netflix is now worth more than Comcast

#54
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole idea of "cord cutting" hurting cable is insane. If you don't subscribe to cable and you subscribe to internet based streaming services, you're still getting content delivered to your home via either a cable "cord" or the phone company. Netflix at most gets $12/month per subscriber. Comcast will get $80 - $110/month for internet service. Comcaast also has either no competitors in their market or at most one.…

> The whole idea of "cord cutting" hurting cable is insane. If you don't subscribe to cable and you subscribe to internet based streaming services, you're still getting content delivered to your home via either a cable "cord" or the phone company. Right now, people pay $150+ for a package with all the TV channels, while you can get the broadband for $50 or so. Cable companies could dramatically raise prices on the ba…

The idea that cable providers can raise prices to compensate for lost TV revenue is predicated on the assumption that there are no alternatives. That assumption ignores just how much bandwidth 5G gives you to play with.

All of the major cell carriers are already offering unlimited internet with SD video streaming. My older son doesn't have home internet service at all. He streams everything either from his phone or his PS4 and tethers from his phone. That's good enough for him.

Right now, people pay $150+ for a package with all the TV channels, while you can get the broadband for $50 or so

I pay $70 a month for AT&T's gigabit internet and on top of that I pay $35 for DirecTVNow and $12 a month for Hulu without commercials. I would be paying $13 a month for Netflix, but it is free with T-mobile.

The actual price of TV service is a wash. I won't go back to TV via the cable company because of the BS fees -- cable box rental (for us it would be $50), Broadcast Access, Sports Access, Regulatory fees (that aren't mandatory government fees) add up to another $80.

On top of that DirecTVNow+Hulu is a lot more flexible. We can watch from anywhere. That's a big deal for my wife. She has a split shift and when she isn't at the gym she can catch up on TV on her phone.

Re: Netflix is now worth more than Comcast

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole idea of "cord cutting" hurting cable is insane. If you don't subscribe to cable and you subscribe to internet based streaming services, you're still getting content delivered to your home via either a cable "cord" or the phone company. Netflix at most gets $12/month per subscriber. Comcast will get $80 - $110/month for internet service. Comcaast also has either no competitors in their market or at most one.…

For a few of us with non cable pure internet ISPs at least, we really are cutting the cable. I use Webpass in SF, which does building to building microwave beaming and gigabit fiberoptics and that’s it... it’s plain and simple internet without TV or service bundling of any kind. Big cable hasn’t received a penny from me and if I can help it, never will.

Comcast owns NBC and bunch of cable companies. If you watch any of the networks they own or if you wtch anything produced by Universal, they are still making money from you.

Re: Netflix is now worth more than Comcast

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a few of us with non cable pure internet ISPs at least, we really are cutting the cable. I use Webpass in SF, which does building to building microwave beaming and gigabit fiberoptics and that’s it... it’s plain and simple internet without TV or service bundling of any kind. Big cable hasn’t received a penny from me and if I can help it, never will.

Comcast owns NBC and bunch of cable companies. If you watch any of the networks they own or if you wtch anything produced by Universal, they are still making money from you.

Key detail; not as much as they would if you subscribed to cable.

Re: Netflix is now worth more than Comcast

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like a good time to buy Comcast stock, and/or short Netflix stock. I'm no fan of Comcast (I've been trolling my city's building permit listings, drooling over the small fiber providers inching closer to my neighborhood), but they do still own a ton of physical infrastructure, as well as a massive IP library. Netflix has branding and momentum on their side, but they're also in a much more fragile position.

That might make sense from a mathematical perspective but something still needs to drive the price up or down, fundamentals alone don't always.

All I know about Warren Buffet's investing is that he takes a lot of time to come up with a sane, realistic valuation of a company. It seems to have worked for him.

Re: Netflix is now worth more than Comcast

#58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole idea of "cord cutting" hurting cable is insane. If you don't subscribe to cable and you subscribe to internet based streaming services, you're still getting content delivered to your home via either a cable "cord" or the phone company. Netflix at most gets $12/month per subscriber. Comcast will get $80 - $110/month for internet service. Comcaast also has either no competitors in their market or at most one.…

Comcast makes $5 per subscriber in profits per month. Netflix with $12 per month revenue might end up making $5 in profits pretty soon. That is all that matters. Also Netflix is not a Comcast competitor. Healthy Comcast network helps Netflix too. It is like saying SpaceX is bigger than Disney. Comparison makes no sense. Netflix is not gonna hurt cable as much as ipod did not hurt FM radio. So I think people need to t…

Pretty sure you are arguing that NFLX is way overvalued. If so, I agree. The point about gross margin is what many have missed here.

Re: Netflix is now worth more than Comcast

#59
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole idea of "cord cutting" hurting cable is insane. If you don't subscribe to cable and you subscribe to internet based streaming services, you're still getting content delivered to your home via either a cable "cord" or the phone company. Netflix at most gets $12/month per subscriber. Comcast will get $80 - $110/month for internet service. Comcaast also has either no competitors in their market or at most one.…

> The whole idea of "cord cutting" hurting cable is insane. If you don't subscribe to cable and you subscribe to internet based streaming services, you're still getting content delivered to your home via either a cable "cord" or the phone company. Right now, people pay $150+ for a package with all the TV channels, while you can get the broadband for $50 or so. Cable companies could dramatically raise prices on the ba…

A basic HD cable package on top of my old Comcast Internet subscription added MAYBE $20 to the cost of my Internet plan due to the bundle discount. Oh, and Comcast threw in HBO for free, which is worth about $15 a month.

To get the equivalent channel access as such a service, you've got to pay for YouTube TV or PlayStation Vue or the like, and you're looking at $40 a month there.

Obviously, prices vary by where you are, but in a lot of cases, cord cutting actually removes efficiency. And note that Netflix is rapidly abandoning the "buy all content" model in favor of just having it's own shows. So you'll need Netflix + Hulu + CBS All Access + Disney's new service, etc.

Re: Netflix is now worth more than Comcast

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole idea of "cord cutting" hurting cable is insane. If you don't subscribe to cable and you subscribe to internet based streaming services, you're still getting content delivered to your home via either a cable "cord" or the phone company. Netflix at most gets $12/month per subscriber. Comcast will get $80 - $110/month for internet service. Comcaast also has either no competitors in their market or at most one.…

Comcast has a very capital-heavy business, and their biggest competitor is the cell network. They have poor customer sentiment, and their existing capital is an aging dinosaur waiting to die.

I would think delivering content over the internet point to point would be more expensive than cable since cable is multicast. Netflix has higher marginal cost and Comcast has higher fixed costs that can be spread among more customers.
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