Comcast is recasting itself as CableZilla

If you think regional monopoly communication behemoths like AT&T and Verizon are a good thing, you’ll love the new Comcast. With the newly minted FCC blessing unrestrained growth of the MSO giant, there’s little to stop Cablezilla from gobbling up smaller operators and growing its coax monopoly footprint.  Will this be good for consumers? Don’t bet on it. While Comcast has been upgrading its network to deliver faster speeds to some end users, it’s also been leading the industry in pushing usage caps and surcharges. With an ongoing enlargement of a Cabliezilla monoculture, we’ll see this being pushed into more markets where competition is sparse. The need for cash to fund system buy outs combined with no competition from the telcos will pretty much guarantee all Comcast customers will be paying more.

Comcast issued their third quarter earnings this morning, which indicate that while growth has slowed slightly at the cable giant, the money continues to roll in thanks to a combination of rate hikes and customers adding additional services. The company recorded a quarterly profit of $944 million, up from $771 million one year earlier. The company added 361,000 net broadband subscribers and 375,000 VoIP net customers, lower than predicted growth on both fronts but still respectable in the eyes of Wall Street investors.

Respectable might be an understatement, given Comcast’s quarterly broadband subscriber additions were more than double the combined total of Qwest, AT&T and Verizon on the quarter. (DSL Reports)