Re-United (and It Feels so Good): Cable and CE Go Back to the Alter
January 14, 2011 at 10:43 am poidawg 1 comment
One of the (possibly) monumental announcements from CES 2011 came from the Samsung keynote address where leaders from Samsung, Comcast, and Time Warner demo-ed a Smart TV that connected directly to cable TV services through the Internet without a set-top box. That means that cable customers will be able to receive their HD channels on their tablet/iPad, smartphone and connected TV/Bluray using their home networks. Customers will also be able to access on demand movies and the content stored on their DVRs. Verizon also announced a similar service for their FiOS customers.
Anyone who has ever tried to install a CableCard might be skeptical about another Cable-CE partnership, but this time there might be more than lip service. With the explosion of connected devices and the number of tablet PCs shown at CES (estimated at 50), the cable companies are facing a “we better do it or somebody else will” scenario. Streaming video over the Internet is becoming such a commodity and CableCos have been losing customers, so this move seems to make sense as both a defensive strategy as well as an opportunity to increase subscription revenue. For MoCA, the connection to the Smart TV will likely be through the coax cable to both the broadband as well as DVRs so this would be a big boost. Wireless devices could also be supported using MoCA through MoCA-WiFi Access Points installed in rooms where a strong WiFi signal is needed. We’ll see in the next few months whether this is just CES PR or actually will result in some exciting new services for 2011.
Entry filed under: cable, ces, Comcast, Connected TV, FiOS, HDTV, Samsung, Time Warner Cable, Verizon. Tags: cablecard, Comcast, Samsung, smart tv, time warner, Verizon Fios.
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Elias | January 15, 2011 at 9:35 am
This would be something to get excited about if not for the crippling limitations Comcast announced along with it. I think it’s awesome they are trying to catch up with the industry and offer these kinds of options to their customers…I’m a DISH employee/customer and LOVE being able to watch live TV on my phone, laptop, or tablet no matter where I’m at. Comcast can’t do that…their customers have to be AT HOME, where the TV is, in order to stream live TV to their ipad (the only device, so far, it works with). When I heard this I felt even luckier to be with DISH.