Cable's Last Stand: Why Wireless Bundling Could Be the Game-Changer Traditional TV Never Was

The cable industry’s golden age feels ancient history now. The once-dominant triple play service package—combining TV, broadband, and phone—that built giants like Charter Communications (NASDAQ: CHTR) and Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) into household names is crumbling. Streaming ate cable’s lunch. Landline phones became relics. The numbers tell a brutal story: U.S. cable households plummeted from over 100 million in 2014 to fewer than 74 million today, with projections pointing toward just 63 million by 2024.

But here’s where it gets interesting. While the traditional triple play service fades into irrelevance, cable operators have discovered an unexpected lifeline: bundling broadband with mobile wireless service. And early signals suggest this combination might actually work.

The Wireless-Broadband Momentum Is Real

The penetration numbers might seem modest at first glance, but the trajectory is what matters. According to Parks Associates, 19% of U.S. broadband subscribers now also purchase wireless service from their same provider—a jump from just 11% in early 2019. That’s a 73% increase in adoption within roughly four years.

Consider the speed at which Spectrum Mobile and Xfinity Mobile have scaled. Charter’s mobile service, launched in mid-2018, now serves nearly 2.7 million customers. Comcast’s Xfinity platform, which began in mid-2017, has already surpassed 3.1 million wireless subscribers. These aren’t trivial numbers, especially when you remember these services are only available to existing broadband customers. The addressable market is deliberately constrained, yet growth keeps accelerating.

Economics That Actually Make Sense

The financial equation underlying this bundling strategy is compelling. The average broadband-mobile combo commands $128 monthly—with standalone broadband averaging $64, that means wireless service adds roughly $64 to the bundle, pricing it competitively with traditional wireless plans. Unlike the struggling cable TV segment, the mobile telecom industry remains consistently profitable across all major players.

From the cable operators’ perspective, this is revenue diversification that actually sticks. AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) haven’t been displaced; instead, they’ve become wholesale partners. Charter pays for Verizon network access when needed. Comcast similarly taps into carrier infrastructure. For the wireless incumbents, this represents additional revenue streams without the retail customer service burden. It’s a win-win setup that’s proving resilient.

The Missing Piece in Cable’s Turnaround

Both Comcast and Charter continued losing cable television subscribers last quarter while adding broadband customers. That’s the dynamic nobody wanted: fixed-line growth in a video-collapsing world. Mobile bundling changes this calculus. It’s no longer just defending a dying business; it’s creating new customer stickiness alongside the core broadband proposition.

The bundle transforms broadband from a commodity offering into a sticky customer package. It’s not yet a dominant revenue engine—the growth is steady but gradual—and scaling remains constrained by infrastructure and the willingness of wireless partners to cooperate. Still, for investors watching Cable TV’s decades-long decline, the wireless-broadband combination represents something the industry hasn’t had in years: genuine forward momentum.