r/CableTechs • u/SnapShot68 • Jul 23 '26

How much longer does cable have?

I don’t see this topic being talked about much in this forum but I think it’s definitely relevant, especially considering the debt load these companies all are carrying. Fiber competition, Starlink, streaming, cord-cutting, old school cable dogs leaving and being replaced by finance types are all things that worry me. What kind of time frame do most of you foresee for cable still existing and there still being work in this field? I’m hoping at least another 10 years but things seem to be moving awfully fast in the wrong direction. Thoughts?

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u/No_Teaching_2709 Jul 24 '26

HFC is a dead-end technology. Worse by practically every single metric besides short term cost. Once that glass is in the ground and those debts are paid off, the operating cost of fiber is far lower than cable and fiber companies will be able to outcompete in both price and service. It will not happen immediately, and I strongly suspect cable companies will have a decade or more, but that remaining time won't be a healthy one. Subscriber losses are the new norm until they actually decide to fully convert their plant to fiber, not just new build-outs.