Comcast profits: same story but different ending?

Posting just a 1% increase in net profits, the largest cable-television operator is watching a boring repeat from last year, but story may end differently this time around. Comcast's net income increased to $222 million compared to $220 million from the year ago period. Comcast made some inroads in the broadband and digital phone services, but their signal got a little crossed in the television subscriber area.

While one industry analyst had forecast Comcast would lose around 3,000 basic cable customers to the competition, it turns out they lost around 46,000. Folks seem to be bailing on Comcast's basic service for less expensive, but comparable packages from the satellite companies. On the flipside, Comcast did attract additional digital cable subscribers,
adding 12.4% bringing that customer base to over 9.4 million.

It's a safe bet that a good portion of these 9.4 million digital cable customers don't have HDTVs, but that trend has to be reversing, which is in Comcast's future favor. I wouldn't fret over the loss of basic cable subscribers, when I can charge more for digital television services such video-on-demand and high-definition locals and premiums.
Looks like the re-run might work out differently after all, no?