Even though cable operators’ stocks remain largely depressed, they could be a better buy than media companies.

A story in today’s Wall Street Journal said that despite the slowdown in the construction of homes and competition from the likes of AT&T and Verizon, cable may be a better bet for investors.

According to the story, media companies are trading about seven times their projected earnings before EBITDA, while Comcast and Time Warner Cable are less than five times – but that gap could narrow. This year, Barclays Capital projects that entertainment companies’ EBITDA will decline by an average of  0.9 percent, while cable and satellite will grow 4.9 percent.

The story also cited the prevalence of Internet video as a threat to both media and cable companies, but said that even though cable would lose subscription revenues, the industry’s costs would go down since they no longer have to pay the content owners as much, and the industry would still make money by providing broadband access for the video.