The U.S. cable television industry : the multi-service operator organizational structure as a bundle of competencies

Abstract

The United States cable television industry is experiencing fierce competition from telephone companies and content providers, as well as new and possibly unknown entrants. As organizations in the industry are currently dealing with competitor firms' ability to enter the domains of media, entertainment, and communications bundled services, areas that were traditionally controlled by the cable companies. The commoditization of voice, video, and data networks has led cable companies to rethink how they are going organize to be able to compete, service customer needs, and keep competitors from entering their domains, while maintaining best-in-breed product differentiation. In order for the cable companies to maintain their dominant position, I argue in this thesis that the firms must change from being a single service cable company, to being multi-service operators (MSO). This change in operations requires a new organization structure.