If you live in Montana and use 3 Rivers Communications for your TV service, we have bad news for you. In October, 3 Rivers Communications will shut down its TV service and only offer Internet and phone services.
Currently, 3 Rivers Communications has 15,000 customers but only about 1,800 pay for TV. Now 3 Rivers Communications says they cannot compete with streaming and satellite services like DISH and DIRECTV. Instead of fighting for the few remaining customers, 3 Rivers Communications has decided to focus on offering the best Internet and phone services they can.
“We’re getting out of the TV business and we’re really going to focus on providing the best broadband we can to all of our cooperative members,” Serido told KRTV. (You can listen to that interview in the YouTube video above.) “That’s really what people want and need.”
3 Rivers Communications is not alone in shutting down TV. A growing number of small cable TV companies have decided to stop offering TV services. This includes RTC, which will shut down its TV service in just a few weeks.
RTC’s website has the following statement:
Based on what we see for the future and what’s best for our customers, RTC Communications will no longer provide video service as part of our entertainment package effective July 1, 2019. For years, our customers have had access to a wide range of channels of information, entertainment and sports. As you probably know, more than half of all usage on the internet is video of all forms and formats to suit all tastes and styles. We have been monitoring and evaluating the trends in video and are making significant changes and restructuring in light of what we see in the market today, and in the future. This business decision was purely in the interest of our customers and stemmed from long-term planning by RTC’s senior leadership team as part of a plan to ensure the health of the company.
As TV content becomes more expensive it is becoming harder for small cable companies to survive. Add in the fact that there is now a growing number of streaming competitors and you can see why small companies would be looking to exit the TV business.
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