Can Amazon Help Comcast Fend Off Telecom and Satellite Rivals?

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
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Can Amazon Help Comcast Fend Off Telecom and Satellite Rivals?

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Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) has set a deal with Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) to sell cable packages online. Comcast could use the help as telecom fiber to the home, satellite and various forms of cord cutting have eaten at its core business. It is too early to tell whether the alliance works or is only a press release about an experiment.

The Amazon Cable Store offers the Comcast Triple Play of cable, Wi-Fi and telephone service. The package has been a staple in the industry since consumers began to demand wireless broadband and phone service that did not come from the phone company.

Comcast calls its cable service Xfinity for some reason. Amazon will bundle Xfinity products with “exclusive promotions” and “dedicated customer service.” Presumably, that is better than the terrible customer service many current Comcast subscribers receive.

Additionally, people who take the package can avoid modem leasing fees and get an Amazon gift card.
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Comcast management promoted the move in a press release:

“Amazon is not only the biggest online retailer and a place where millions of our customers shop every day, but it’s also a brand that’s unrivaled when it comes to customer service,” said Charlie Herrin, Executive Vice President of Customer Experience for Comcast Cable. “Amazon’s new marketplace provides an immersive online destination to showcase our terrific suite of products, including Xfinity X1.”

Better customer service and products anyone can buy at any time, without Amazon.

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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