Cable Holding Its Own Amid DSL Onslaught

As the third quarter draws to a close, at least one cable TV analyst is optimistic about a key element of the business.

Major cable TV operators will add 6% more subscribers to high-speed Internet service in the third quarter than they added in the third quarter of last year, estimates Smith Barney analyst Niraj Gupta.

And though telephone company price cuts have pushed adoption of the DSL service that competes with cable modems, the increasing popularity of DSL doesn't appear to have come at the expense of cable operators, including Comcast (CMCSA Quote), Cox (COX Quote) and Cablevision (CVC Quote).

As they have over the past few quarters, cable investors will be keeping a close eye on news about high-speed data services during the forthcoming earnings season. Cable operators have spent billions of dollars over the past few years to upgrade their networks to offer high-margin advanced services such as fast Internet connections. ...