Time Warner Cable and Comcast make push into home security

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Would you trust the cable company to guard your family jewels and good silver.

Time Warner Cable and Comcast sure hope so. The two cable giants are making an aggressive push to get into the home security business.

The move comes at a time when cable companies are having a harder time holding onto subscribers. A tough economy and the emergence of new competitors means cable operators have to find new ways to keep subscribers plugged in.

‘The industry is increasingly looking to squeeze more juice out of their relationship with the customer,’ said Rich Greenfield, a media analyst with financial services firm BTIG.

The domestic electronic security industry generates $33.25 billion annually, according to the Gold Book, a publication produced by Security Sales & Integration magazine. About 1 in 5 homes nationwide has some sort of monitored security system, said Don Boerema, chief marketing officer of ADT, the industry leader in home security with 6 million customers, or 26% of the market.

Cable companies already have a pipeline to a customer base. New wireless technology has made entry into the home-security business fairly inexpensive for them.

‘All of our research said it was a good business to go after,’ said Keith Burkley, Time Warner Cable’s senior vice president responsible for the company’s Intelligent Home security system. ‘The market is 20% penetrated, and we really believe it is going to grow to over 30%.’

For more on how the cable companies want to become watchdogs, see the story in Tuesday’s Los Angeles Times.

-- Joe Flint

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