Posted on April 28, 2008 by Mari Silbey
The NCTA conducted an interesting form of outreach last week. After apparently reading a number of unflattering and possibly inaccurate reports on switched digital video’s impact on CableCARD retail devices, the association put out the word that it would conduct a conference call briefing for any bloggers and journalists interested in discussing the topic. The [...]
Filed under: CE, Cable, CableCARD, Switched Digital, Tru2way | 3 Comments »
Posted on February 10, 2008 by Mari Silbey
As we settle comfortably into 2008, switched digital video (SDV) technology is hitting its stride. First came news of the tuning resolver, a device designed (by Motorola and others) to allow retail products with one-way CableCARDs to access two-way, switched digital services. Light Reading reports that CableLabs officially issued specs for the tuning [...]
Filed under: Bandwidth, Cable, CableCARD, HDTV, Motorola News, Switched Digital | 2 Comments »
Posted on December 11, 2007 by Mari Silbey
Now that the Consumer Electronics Show mania has begun (27 days and counting…), it’s worth a brief look back to eleven months ago and CES 2007: The Headlines, The Celebrities, The (Motorola) Products.
The Headlines… Nearly a Year Later
It’s All About the TV/PC – Dan Costa at PC Magazine wrote about bridging the gap from [...]
Filed under: Apple, CE, Cable, CableCARD, DVR, HDTV, IPTV | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 30, 2007 by Mari Silbey
CableLabs put out a release earlier this week on a new device to give retail CableCARD devices access to switched digital video services. And folks have been clamoring for details ever since. (Dave, Jeff, that means you…)
Here’s what I found out.
First, the cable industry is moving quickly. As much as consumers don’t want [...]
Filed under: CE, Cable, CableCARD, DVR, Switched Digital | 8 Comments »
Posted on November 26, 2007 by Mari Silbey
So much going on, so little time to cover it all.
Switched Digital Video – CableLabs made it public this morning that several companies working together (including Motorola) have developed a solution to deliver switched digital video (SDV) services to retail CableCARD devices. With cable operators keen to roll out SDV in order to save [...]
Filed under: Bandwidth, Cable, CableCARD, Fiber, Internet, Switched Digital | 3 Comments »
Posted on November 2, 2007 by Mari Silbey
It’s been just over four months since the FCC’s CableCARD mandate went into effect, and, as the NCTA reported late last month, the number of set-tops with CableCARDs in consumer homes has already more than doubled the total number of CableCARDs requested by consumers in the three-year period before July 1, 2007. Given such [...]
Filed under: CableCARD | 4 Comments »
Posted on October 2, 2007 by Mari Silbey
Brian Santo over at CED has a great article up on the bandwidth implications of the DTV transition. Specifically he outlines why cable hasn’t gone all-digital already (cost of adding in CableCARDs and OCAP technology) and how cable could have had it worse in the recent DTV negotiations if the FCC had mandated triple [...]
Filed under: Bandwidth, Cable, CableCARD, OCAP | 2 Comments »
Posted on August 22, 2007 by Mari Silbey
Operators who made a firm commitment to go all-digital in the near future got special consideration from the FCC on CableCARD waiver requests. But there’s another reason to push digital penetration rates to 100%. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is now floating a proposal to mandate that cable companies transmit so-called “must carry” channels [...]
Filed under: Bandwidth, Cable, CableCARD, TV | 9 Comments »
Posted on August 18, 2007 by Mari Silbey
I’ve been wondering about cable digital subscriber numbers in the wake of the Seven-Oh-Seven deadline. Comcast had a major promotional push going on prior to the deadline, presumably in the hopes of clearing out its inventory of non-CableCARD set-tops. Did it pay off in digital subscribers? Yes, it did. In spades.
One [...]
Filed under: Cable, CableCARD, Comcast, Time Warner | No Comments »
Posted on July 25, 2007 by Mari Silbey
As part of a conversation today someone emphasized to me that Verizon’s CableCARD waiver from the FCC is only a one-year grace period for advanced (HD and DVR) set-tops. Seven-Oh-Seven is past. But Seven-Oh-Eight isn’t that far away.
I bring this up not to hype another deadline, but to point out that a year [...]
Filed under: Cable, CableCARD, DVR, Telecom, Verizon | 2 Comments »
