Cable TV has been around in the U.S. forever.

Or about 1948, if you believe Wikipedia.

As a result, everyone is accustomed to saying things like “cable channel” or “cable TV network” when referring to networks appearing on cable. But with the rise of IPTV, the notion of calling networks “cable TV” needs to change.

First of all, it’s inaccurate. For example, last year, the NY Times had a headline that read “NBC Purchases Oxygen Cable TV Network for Women“.  The addition of “cable” was unnecessary and not quite accurate since it’s also available to cable, satellite and IPTV providers. So why call it a cable network? It’s an outdated term for an age with multiple TV providers.

I don’t have anything against cable providers (although I am an IPTV analyst and editor of the IPTV Bulletin), but I’m just tired of seeing writers and editors still using that outdated term. Lots of industry folk say “multichannel service provider” when they refer to cable, satellite or IPTV providers. But, um, I don’t think that’s the right term for everyone.

Even regular folk not in the TV or media industries, tend to still say things like “I was watching cable TV” or “it’s on cable”. More often than not, people are subscribing to cable, over satelltie or IPTV. Cable is still the most popular way consumers get their TV content.

Old habits die hard, but I think it’s time for a change.

ландшафт
• Instead of cable TV, say just TV.
• Instead of cable TV network, just say TV network.

But maybe I’m just being a stickler.

It seems that cable companies are finally getting tired of competing with all the free TV shows that are streaming over the Internet. According to an article in AdAge.com, Time Warner Cable’s CEO Glenn Britt said that they do care when TV networks put their full-length content online and essentially bypass cable TV.

This is a fight that’s been a long time coming. Hollywood studios and networks are finally realizing that they want to reach the most number of people as possible and not be constrained by traditional broadcast TV models. For example HBO has hosted many full-length shows online, as have ABC (Desperate Housewives, Lost), NBC (Hereos) and others.

Studios are embracing this new “Hollywood 2.0″ mentality that they want wider options for their content, and different mediums rather than trying to keep everyone tuned into their TV sets. In fact, a Time Warner cable spokesperson said they are prepared to withhold some subscriber revenue from the networks.

“Our point of view is that there is a segment of our audience that is living more primarily online than they are living on other platforms,” said Erik Flannigan, exec VP-digital media of MTV Networks’ Entertainment Group. “As some of our actions have made clear, the consumer will have many places they want to consume content. As long as we’re putting forth that experience and getting the lion’s share of the advertising, everybody wins.”

I don’t think that it will come to that, however. Cable companies are scared, and are trying to say and do anything to make people understand that they feel threatened by the Internet. Broadcast TV is being threatened–by DVRs, Internet delivery and even DVDs. But any major change to the established broadcast cable TV systems won’t happen for many years.

Some cable providers, like Comcast, have embraced the Internet and have developed web properties (like FanCast.com). It seems that other TV providers will have to learn how to adapt in the face of the growing Internet menace.

Technorati Tags: FanCast, Comcast, Advertising, AdAge, Ad Age, Cable TV, cable

For anyone using a DVR and HD, it’s the classic dilemma: Do you use your cable or satellite provider’s DVR box or buy a Tivo? It’s like “Sophie’s Choice”.

On one hand, your cable provider offers a low cost DVR that works with HD content for just a few dollars a month–Comcast charges me about $5 per month. You also get just one box, rather than having to use a cable set-top and a separate DVR. Plus cable companies don’t charge you for buying the box; you usually rent the box for just a few dollars a month.

Going with Tivo means, higher initial cost of buying the HD DVR (about $600 to $800 for a Series 3 DVR).  It also means higher monthly costs–I pay about $20 per month for the Tivo service.

So lots of people are going through these issues when they upgrade to an HDTV and HD service. One blogger called “Dog Monster” wrote about this dilemma after deciding to go with a Comcast DVR, rather than buy an HD Tivo DVR.  And he writes that his frustrations with the Comcast DVR happened in less than one day of using it. He writes: “I loved watching television until I got my cablebox DVR.”

He goes on to list his 20 reasons why he decided to dump Comcast’s DVR and buy a new Tivo Series 3 box. Here’s the quick list:

1. Comcast DVR has no predictive fast-forward.
2. No Start From Beginning When Reaching the End of a Recording.
3. Not Recording Shows.
4. Searching for Shows is Clunky and Slow.
5. Finding Your Favorites Shows is Difficult.
6. The Cable Box Doesn’t Show the Time When Recording.
7. No Way of Knowing if A Show is Being Recorded.
8. Button Lag.
9. No Sound Effects like Tivo.
10. Not Intuitive Interface.
11. No Recommendations.
12. Recording Same Episode Multiple Times.
13. Doesn’t Know What Shows Are New.
14. Cannot Change Recording Quality.
15. Not Being Able to Exit the Play Timeline.
16. Doesn’t Warn About Conflicting Recordings.
17. Accidentally Recording SD Channel Rather than HD.
18. Comcast Doesn’t Group Shows Together Like Tivo.
19. Remote Control Is Not Easy to Use.
20. No Scheduling Shows Online.

Along with the points made here, I really miss the integration with the Internet for downloading photos, and other content (like RocketBoom) and the ability to save files on my computer with Tivo Desktop software. I must admit I am hitting my breaking point with Comcast’s DVR. I’ve been using it for about two months now (alongside my Series 2 Tivo for SD recordings) and have been very frustrated with it as well. Since I have multiple inputs on my HDTV set, I have both my Comcast DVR connected to watch and record HD content, and my Tivo for SD recordings and all my previously recorded shows.

But switching between the two is getting tedious. I want HD recording and Comcast’s DVR just isn’t giving me what I want out of an HD DVR.

It’s probably just a matter of time before I buy an HD Tivo and use it 100% of the time and drop Comcast’s DVR.

Technorati Tags: Tivo, Comcast, HD DVR, DVR, Comcast DVR, Series 2 Tivo

It’s been a big week of news for Comcast and the cable industry. Aside from the new portable DVR and Tru2way announcements, Comcast also said it is now the number 4 provider of telephone services in the U.S.

Not bad for a company that: a) is not a phone company b) is the number one cable TV provider and c) just started offering telephone services three years ago.

Comcast said it has 4.1 million telephone customers, which beats Embarq’s residential numbers. Embarq is countering this claim by saying it has over 6 million phone customers if wholesale and business customers are included.

Comcast also announced other news at CES this week:

• A high-speed broadband service that can download an HD movie in 4 minutes, which will roll out this year.
• The addition of more HD videos for Comcast’s video-on-demand service.
• Fancast, a web site with full TV episodes and movies.

Technorati Tags: Comcast, VOIP, telephone, cable TV, cable, Fancast, Embarq

The cable industry announced it is standardizing technology, called “Tru2way”,  for two-way interactive services, which essentially means consumers won’t need cable boxes to watch TV.

It also means interoperability between cable providers which can in turn lead to a growth in interactive services. Moving away from closed, proprietary systems into an open technology has been years in the making.  CableLabs, which works as the cable industry’s research division, said it would now be branded as Tru2way.

Comcast said it will roll out Tru2way by the end of 2008, while Time Warner and Cox said they would also have it available this year.

Already new products are being announced at CES.  There’s Comcast’s and Panasonic’s portable DVR player called AnyPlay, and Panasonic’s Viera Plasma HDTV.

In other cable news, Pike and Fischer, a research company, said that cable companies would concentrate on saving money for customers in 2008, rather than adding new features. The reason is because consumers will be worried about their budgets this year because of the economic downturn due to the mortgage crisis.

In fact, I just read that AT&T is cutting residential telephone and broadband customers for not paying their bills. Although cable companies will still lose TV customers this year, they will make up for it via digital voice/VOIP, as more consumers drop residential phones.

Technorati Tags: CES, tru2way, DVR, Panasonic, Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, AT&T, cable, cable TV, CableLabs