• by Wayne Friedman , March 11, 2008

The aggressive competition for the high-definition TV viewer forced Comcast to change its marketing strategy--especially against DirecTV and its 100 channel HD offerings.

"In 2007 and '08, we readjusted some of our marketing," says Michael Angelakis, CFO for Comcast Corp., who was speaking at the Bear Stearns 21st Annual Media Conference, Palm Beach, Fla. "I take my hat off to DirecTV. They have had a single product focus. They have created a perception that they have a better product then we have."

He noted that Comcast did focus on the realities of HD in their marketing, and the company "continues to launch HD channels every day in certain markets. To do this, Comcast is looking to "reclaim" bandwidth when switching from analog to digital signals, which could add "150 to 300 channels."

While Comcast is fighting DirecTV on one front, it is also fighting companies like the telcos--especially Verizon FiOS--which has amped up marketing when it comes to grabbing digital video consumers.

"We are trying to keep all our video customers, but we'll lose a few," says Angelakis.

On the positive side, Angelakis says Comcast has been improving its voice business--and to a lesser extent, data. Comcast is still pushing triple play--the packaging of video, voice and data businesses to consumers. "We think bundling is still very important," he adds.

Angelakis was asked about the spiraling economy and what it might mean to Comcast: "Recession-resistant is how well you perform in a downturn," he said. "We generate well over $100 a month per customer."

"We have a number of leading indicators: We have a billion-and-a-half-dollar advertising business. We think that's a pretty interesting indicator," he notes. "A lot of our business is based on housing--vacancies and housing growth. I think our company will do well, but not as well from a growth perspective. We will ride out this market fine."