As Frontier Communications (NYSE: FTR) continues to make its unceremonious exit out of the TV business by jacking up its installation fees, Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is wasting no time to lure customers that are disgruntled by the telco's actions with its triple play packages.
Citing ongoing operational expenses, Frontier decided to not only increase the cost of FiOS TV by 50 percent, but also charge a $500 installation fee for new FiOS TV installations. To assuage the pain of the new fees, Frontier said it would offer consumers a special DirecTV satellite TV offer.
After promising regulators in Indiana, Oregon and Washington State--the three markets where it operates FiOS services it acquired in the rural line deal with Verizon--they would maintain the service, the telco has been pulling out of video franchises.
In Ft. Wayne, Ind., a Comcast ad reads: "Frontier is pulling the plug on FiOS--Switch to Xfinity." Not surprisingly, Frontier, which plans to continue offering FiOS broadband data services in the area, issued a "cease and desist" letter asking Comcast to take the billboards down.
Matt Kelley, a Frontier spokesman, said that Comcast was doing nothing more than "spreading false rumors in an effort to drum up business."
However, Comcast is not backing down from its marketing blitz to encourage customers to bring their business to them.
"Comcast continues to invest in these markets, while Frontier has taken a number of steps to discourage new customers from signing up for its service and encourage current customers to seek alternative services from satellite," the company said in a statement. "We are using these ads to make consumers aware of our Xfinity TV service as a better choice for consumers."
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