- The Cable Center is selling its building on the University of Denver campus
- 25 years ago, the building represented an industry at its peak
- But the cable industry is now past its prime
While the satellite industry is on the rise in telecommunications, the cable industry seems to be on the decline.
Today, leaders of the Cable Center, which is located at the University of Denver, say they’re in the process of selling their building and its surrounding property on the campus.
The building was once the crown jewel of the cable industry. Its basement housed a bunch of historical equipment, demonstrating the origins of the industry, where young engineers would visit to understand the technology. And the main floor of the Cable Center is bright and airy with lots of tall windows. It’s been used for many industry events, including early celebrations of the Cable Hall of Fame.
DU has been expanding and updating its campus for at least a decade, tearing down old buildings and replacing them with shiny new structures. It’s not clear what DU has planned for the 25-year-old Cable Center. (We were just speculating in our headline.) But it appears that the building has been rented out for a lot of special events.
Today’s press release from the Cable Center stated: “The agreement initiates a defined due-diligence period during which final terms, timing and logistics will be evaluated. Throughout this process, all mission-serving programs, industry events, and commitments of the Cable Center will continue uninterrupted.”
Proceeds from the transaction will be directed primarily to the Cable Center’s endowment to support long-term sustainability.
Michael Willner, chairman of the Cable Center Board mentioned that this is “a time when the landscape is evolving rapidly.”
That could be considered a massive understatement.
The cable industry has fallen on hard times. In the third quarter 2025, Charter Communications reported a loss of 109,000 broadband subscribers; while Comcast reported a loss of 104,000 subs. The cable executives have probably come to dread quarterly earnings where they have to report more subscriber losses.
New Street Research analyst David Barden wrote during the last earnings season in October 2025, that for cable to return to subscriber growth, it must attract pre-pandemic levels of new subscribers or hope that fixed wireless access (FWA) competition from wireless providers slows down.
“Cable’s best-case scenario would be for industry net adds to improve and FWA net adds to slow down,” wrote Barden. “We don’t see this scenario unfolding in the near to medium term. We aren’t sure that Cable does either.”
Satellite brings more competition
Meanwhile, the broadband industry (both cable and fiber providers) may be facing the prospect of more competition in 2026 — from satellite.
Blair Levin wrote today, that in the wake of the spectrum deal between EchoStar and SpaceX, “there are open questions about the extent to which Starlink will be able to offer a competitive broadband service to a more extensive geographic market in the U.S.”
He acknowledged that there are significant technology challenges for SpaceX to do so, but “those barriers may be diminished by changes in the technology, as well as FCC proceedings that could, for example, provide more spectrum or increase power limits for satellite broadband providers.”
And Levin noted, “Even if the technological challenges continue to limit the opportunity, satellite providers now have the political upper-hand in arguing that they should get what they want from the FCC as the Chair has identified satellite as the bright hope for a more competitive broadband market.”