The cable cutting group is a smart group, interested in saving money, and acquiring the best deal they can get for their money. This smart group of individuals present an opportunity, for which no one is currently filling the need of. Streaming services are fulfilling half of cable cutter's needs. Streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime are able to offer movies and shows at a monthly rate. These individuals have eliminated the basic cable packages that exist today, and successfully switched to streaming services. This is because the basic cable packages that exist within the current cable company system lock their customers to channels they don't want to watch. Customers are forced to buy a certain amount of channels they don't want to watch. The market is defined equally throughout the United States, as cable companies are running a monopoly with the current system. These cable cutters are extremely loyal to their streaming services, as they are interested in attaining the best possible product they can get. This opportunity is on a world level, as it could potentially be the future of cable as a whole. The window of opportunity will most likely be open for the next few years as no news of major implementation has been announced. Although, action must be taken immediately if actively pursuing this opportunity, because it could be implemented rather quickly. Once implemented the target audience is very loyal and if a good company takes part, they could take a large amount of the available market share.
This target audience needs a cable system that allows autonomous action. In order to satisfy the target audience, the cable service itself must be changed. The innovation consists of creating a new form of cable that still runs on the same grid that is being used today. Meaning that all of the channels that are available right now, will stay, yet the system that is used to sell cable to customers will be changed. The system for this innovation allows the customers to choose what they want to watch. In general, the cable cutting movement has sparked cable customers throughout the United States to change to other alternatives. This is because the current cable system is outdated, not only by running a monopoly, but by locking its customers into packages that they don't want to have. For example, if I go to a cable company and want to have ESPN, I will be forced into a basic cable package. This basic cable package will have somewhere around 70 channels, yet I only want to watch one of those channels. The idea of having to pay for a basic cable package is just outdated. The innovation consists of letting the customer choose what they want to watch. Each month the customer can choose to change what they want to watch, by adding, dropping, or keeping channels. The customer would only pay for the channels that they choose for the month. So, if the customer only wants ESPN for the month, they can choose to just have that channel and pay $8 dollars. Customers can choose as many channels as they want, the goal is to give as much autonomy to the customers as possible.
There are a few additions to this basic concept that produce more revenue and publicity for the product. The first addition to this concept being the ability for customers to pay for live events. If a customer doesn't have a channel on which a live event that they want to watch is being played, they can stream that live event for a cost; without having to buy the channel as a whole. For example, if I want to watch the World Series on CBS, and I don't have that channel, I can choose to stream the whole series for a fee. The fees for streaming depend on each channel and the amount of streaming time. Along with live event streaming, pay-per-view services will be added. PPV events such as boxing, UFC, WWE, etc. can be streamed as other cable companies normally would. The second addition is the possibility of partnerships with streaming services. As this model of cable company resembles streaming services models such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon, it creates the potential for partnerships. A partnership with a streaming service could mean a few things for the company: more customers and publicity, possible applications for streaming and cable at the same time, and the possibility for content creation such as movies or tv shows.
The reasons customers would switch to this cable company would be for the freedom they have when choosing how they watch television, the cost benefits, and the potential partnerships that may exist with their current streaming services. The competitors for this venture concept are all of the cable companies not only in the United States but the world, as this could be adopted as the new model for cable in the future. The vulnerabilities to this venture concept are the barriers to entry into the market. Cable companies have a current monopoly over different regions in the United States, meaning that there must be a lot of capital available in order to start this venture. The role of price points and customer experience are certainly the most important, as they display what the company values are for this concept. Being a concept that gives freedom to its customers is at the core of the company.
This company will have its model that will make it hard for competitors to copy the success of it. It'll be too late before cable companies realize that this is the model of the future. The next opportunity for the venture is breaking into the market and tackling the initial barrier that exists. Finally, as an entrepreneur with this venture I would want to have a solid partnership with a streaming service, such as Netflix, not only creating content but making the world adopt this new cable service model.
Feedback:
- The first comment was mostly positive feedback regarding the venture concept, so there are no changes I could make from that.
- The second comment helped me put my venture concept in a different perspective. The comment started by giving me positive feedback. It continued by explaining that Netflix doesn't really fit into my business model. I disagree with this point. Netflix has taken a lot of business from cable companies. The company cares a lot about its customers, and they try to offer them fair content for what they are paying. This fits into my business model. Why? Because my company is trying to offer consumers that are currently paying more for what they're getting, what they're supposed to be getting. Netflix and other streaming services also open up the potential for content sharing across platforms. Along with content sharing across platforms it adds the possibility for future collaboration on content creation. Netflix is currently creating its own content, which could be aided by more funding and more viewership. Thus, my company comes in and offers a different viewership than the already customers of Netflix.
- I didn't really change my concept, but thanks to the feedback I thought about how Netflix fits into my business model. This made me think more about my concept and the business model that comes along with it.
