Cable Looks to Take Piece of Telehealth Market Controlled by Telcos

Cable companies have, so far, outdone telecoms in the drive to get broadband into homes. In the process, they have managed to take a huge chunk of phone business, in the form of VoIP, away from the traditional landline providers.

Now, as they watch their basic video subscriber numbers erode (as they have every year since 2005), cable companies have begun to look at another telco stronghold--videoconferencing and broadband services--specifically in the health care segment, as a possible prescription to renew their vigor, Bloomberg reports today.

For years, that business has long been the bailiwick of telephone companies, especially AT&T which sells through its AT&T ForHealth division-- and Verizon which sells via its Verizon Connected Healthcare Solutions.

But cable companies, worried that margins on their television business also are shrinking, aggressively have begun to sell broadband and videoconferencing to hospitals and doctors offices. And, to a degree, they've already begun to make in-roads. Early earnings results showed just how much potential there was for cable companies in the sector...