Will Cable Really Open Any Time Soon?
As the trend towards openness continues, one of the least likely industries to jump in the game has signaled that it is heading towards a more open environment. Yes, you guessed it; I am talking about the cable industry.
For more than 10 years we have heard about the promise of interactive television. In fact, CableLabs OpenCable has been in the works since 1997. So why is it that now, after ten years we are beginning to hear about cable operators adopting standardized technologies as opposed to the heavily walled gardens that we are used to?
For one, pressure is on from the FCC to allow consumers to bypass the rental set top box in lieu of a device of their choice. This pressure however is not necessarily the main motivation. It is my belief that the main motivation is…drum roll please…digital media!
Two nights ago I fired up Hulu on my forty-two inch plasma screen. Much to my surprise, I enjoyed a near flawless viewing experience. The commercials were few and short and the stream pixilated only once in a 90 minute viewing session (which is actually more than I can say for my Time Warner Cable viewing experiences).
Days later I heard the news that Cablelabs recently unveiled the newly branded version of Open Cable; Tru2Way;
“Tru2way technology is built into televisions, set-top boxes, and other devices enabling cable companies and other interactive television service and application developers to “write” interactive applications such as games once and see them run successfully on any cable television system that supports the specification.”
Comcast, the country’s largest cable operator has announced the adoption of Tru2way. This announcement comes at a time when threats such as Hulu and Amazon Unbox become more and more of a reality.
So what does the future have in store for the cable industry? Are they already too far behind the digital media companies, or is their reach large enough to buy them time and play catch up?
Tags: interactive television, FCC, OpenCable, Tru2way, Hulu, Amazon Unbox, Comcast, Cablelabs
Time will tell!
Jan 08, 2008
I’m less interested in the delivery mechanism than whether or not I’ll actually get real choice. I’m still angry that I have no interest in 90% of the cable channels I get with my digital Comcast service, but I still have to pay for them. If I can get a betters service with real quality and a comparable cost I’m there.
Jan 08, 2008
Dennis
You raise some great points!
I too am less concerned with the delivery mechanism as long as I get what I want, when and how I want it. I think that this is something that the cable industry is going to have to deal with as platforms such as Hulu make their way into the mainstream.
In reference to your other comment; the economics of cable are such that revenue from some of the 90% of the channels you don’t want help subsidize the ones that you do. The alternative is cable a la carte (which Kevin Martin has proposed).
The reality of cable a la carte is that you may just wind up paying the same amount of money for the channels that you want. I certainly don’t claim to be an expert when it comes to the cable industry, as I am on the digital media side of the fence however, as cable becomes 100% digital, I feel it is my job to educate myself as best as I can.
Thanks for stopping by Dennis, come again soon
Jan 14, 2008
[...] More recently, we have been hearing speculation that the most walled industry of all is making moves towards openness; the cable industry. [...]
Jan 14, 2008
A la carte cable….please. Just like the music industry cable is going to fight with the unlimited choice the internet provides and get squashed….oh I may be talking many…many years from now but its an inevitable shift.
Cable will never have a catalog as big as the internet’s and as users become more and more spoiled by the unlimited choice of the internet (and the fact that I think programming on the internet is going to get a lot more interesting see WGA Artist start Virtual Artist venture) programs will have no choice but to create a the full complement of their shows online…where the eyeballs are.
Cable is just a distribution channel for the content. It’s certainly all about content as Dennis said. Then there’s ease of use and content availability. Given the idea of the long tail, the internet will be able to beat out cable in sheer content availability; Hulu, Veoh, Joost, Amazon Unbox, and Netflix have all made this process a lot easier to use…then the last thing that needs to happen is bridging the gap in quality, broadband adoption continuing, and users getting used to controlling their PC through a TV.
And now…no more cable, but tons of programming…and the TV is still there…just my two cents
Jan 15, 2008
Marco
I agree with your skepticism in regards to open cable. Good thing we are being presented with a lot of other new options (as you mentioned)
Adam