Perfecting a Doctoral Business Problem Statement - Assignment Example

Problem ment PROBLEM MENT Cable networks in the United s have had a significant history in the delivery of broadcast channels to its clients and, in the recent past, they have been the major channel for the delivery of a broad array of content to American households. However, IPTV technology has in the past five years undermined their market share, as have internet providers, while OTT technology’s recent emergence has significantly increased the level of competition with regards to interactive TV (Tang, 2011).

Research by the Media Research group has shown that Pay-TV subscription rates have continued to grow globally and that the number of users, including Cable TV, amounts today to roughly 800 million subscribers. Still, IPTV and Satellite TV continue to grow exponentially as Cable TV begins to stagnate. The main problem for Cable TV has been that, while convergent and interactive applications have been used by in the OTT and IPTV environments as the main differentiators to gain competitive advantage, this has been a difficult thing to do in the traditional cable network environment (Carter, 2012).

So as not to lag behind with regards to demand from the market for TV services, cable operators like Comcast, therefore, seem to have no option but to integrate interactivity applications to their clients alongside their digital signals (Cooper, 2013). However, even with this knowledge and it being more clear about the kinds of services that cable operators must make available so as to gain increased market share and regain a competitive advantage, the best path for them to attain such an objective is not clear cut.

At present, cable operators are being faced with the issue of network upgrading using interactive TV. This form of TV includes social TV, time shift TV, recordings, multi-screen features, enhanced EPG, VOD content, as well as social and internet TV features. Such functionalities can be attained using various approaches for the cable TV networks. For instance, Gershon (2010) posits that cable providers could conduct an upgrade of their DOCSIS data network, which could deliver adequate and effective bandwidth to their clients, allowing for more inclusion of interactive content.

In addition, such an upgrade could also enable cable providers to create an FTTx access network that would enable them to regain their competitive advantage over their major competitors (Gershon, 2010). Another approach that Eastman et al (2012) propose for cable networks to improve competitive advantage is the use of DOCSIS data path, which would be utilized as a control channel, while the content path would mainly rely on the DVB-C infrastructure. Additionally, there is also the option for cable networks to use OTT technology as a way to offer interactive TV services using open internet connections.

However, Fan and Zhang (2012) argues that using cable technology to provide TV services to their clients remains an inferior technology. In fact, this has been the main problem for cable networks trying to compete against emerging TV service providers like satellite TV. In order to regain competitive advantage, it is important that cable TV operators like Comcast come up with solutions to this problem. The main focus for the cable industry lies in expansion and integrating network technology, which is especially important for Comcast in significantly improving their customer service by enabling interactivity to meet the needs and preferences of the consumer and to prevent customer switching.

Accomplishing this goal of customer retention and aligning this with their overall strategy will be the focus of this paper. ReferencesCarter, B. (2012). Desperate networks. New York: Doubleday. Cooper, M. N. (2013). Cable mergers and monopolies: Market power in digital media and communications networks. Washington, D.C: Economic Policy Institute. Eastman, S. T., Klein, R. A., & Ferguson, D. A. (2012). Promotion and marketing for broadcasting, cable, and the web. Boston: Focal Press. Fan, Y., & Zhang, X.-W. (January 01, 2012).

Dynamical behavior of a competition model of Telcom and Cable Television industry. Nonlinear Dynamics, 67, 4, 2631-2636. Gershon, R. A. (2010). The transnational media corporation: Global messages and free market competition. Mahwah, N.J: Erlbaum. Tang, M. (January 01, 2011). Diversification of cable television firms into broadband products. Telecommunications Policy, 35, 11, 951-969.