You Need a Senior’s TV Package

Your addressable market of seniors needing visual entertainment is huge and continues to grow. As they age, technology becomes a greater challenge in their daily lives. Dealing with the substantial pain points and barriers faced by seniors should be at least viewed as a strategic imperative to Xfinity, as 55+ is probably the only customer demographic Xfinity can count on for the foreseeable future; but without solving for these pain points, these seniors, their families and caregivers search virtually everyday for a substitute. In many markets there is no practical substitute, which makes the issue more and more compelling for regulators, lawmakers and agencies to take up as it affects growing portions of their constituency.

I am a family caregiver and literally over half of the calls to me for help are related to the Xfinity TV product (it’s truly heartbreaking to imagine the frustration of that don’t have such support). Those problems are not solvable by the consumer or end-user; they are systemic, functional flaws in the product. They cannot be solved by a big-button remote that may help visually impaired but don’t address the cohort’s increasing cognitive challenges, exacerbated by extraneous buttons and the difficulty they lead to. Voice control is not a solution for an any-stage Alzheimer’s or Aphasia patient, or the characteristically weak-voiced Parkinson’s sufferer.

And, while the functionality of the program guide (duplicated channels, dangled upcharge channels and pay-per movie offers) is maddening for anyone—whether afflicted with dementia or not—the intentionally poor interface is substantially magnified for seniors, and in many circles is even viewed as a ploy to squeeze additional revenue from this vulnerable group (my mother did not watch that Transformers movie, although she did push the buttons that purchased it).

Xfinity, and well-meaning posters that do not face these real challenges with real users point to the “Free-to-Me” and “Favorites” guide options and large-button remote. Sorry, but it’s just too easy to click Guide one too many times and land in the sports-only listings. And, making too-many buttons bigger is still a confusing array of options that allow easy access to options and menus that are difficult to recover from.

>>> It would be great for others to add their constructive suggestions in their responses, and refrain from unnecessarily bashing. Here are my top 2:

Completely redesign the Guide: No channel redundancies - one channel for each channel. The default display is of channels included in my package. A separate upcharge section that needs to be chosen with intent. In addition to Favorites functionality, allow users to block channels they will never want to see in the Guide in order to get to a manageable number of choices. Genuinely involve a variety of seniors in the design and testing.

A simplified remote. Tuck away any access to settings, infrequently used DVR controls (I could be wrong here in assuming seniors are not recording much content but please review your use data), the TV input, ABCD programs. I know this one is difficult given all the permutations of individual need for different functions but the point is to make the most hazardous buttons difficult to get to. Add a basic headphone port.

As visual media becomes more and more fragmented, while at the same time drawing/driving more and more users to inevitably more complicated collections of providers, Xfinity has an opportunity to both do the right thing in providing an aspirational product and improve its terrible uncaring image, while at the same time making a sound business investment in its key, sustaining customer base.

Thank you and I look forward to your new iterations.