Comments on: Will Cable Really Open Any Time Soon?

By: adam

adam — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 14:06:37 +0000

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

By: Marco Hansell

Marco Hansell — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 00:42:00 +0000

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

By: Trends And Truisms Day Nine: The Importance Of Being Open | A Media Circus

Trends And Truisms Day Nine: The Importance Of Being Open | A Media Circus — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:32:48 +0000

[...] More recently, we have been hearing speculation that the most walled industry of all is making moves towards openness; the cable industry. [...]

By: adam

adam — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 22:39:44 +0000

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

By: Dennis McDonald

Dennis McDonald — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 22:29:37 +0000

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.