TWC apologizes TiVo Series 3 CableCARD fudge

Looks like Time Warner Cable, our very favoritest cable company of all (yes, we're saying that with all possible sarcasm despite the fact that they're vaguely related to the Engadget empire) is doing an about face on their vacillating policy of not supporting or providing service to Series 3 TiVos currently in beta, or those in the future. According to a recorded call made to one frustrated user, George, TWC's "policy changed" on the matter -- which means, of course, that this was in fact a policy the cable company took in not supporting TiVo Series 3, but we digress. The upshot is that now, according to Time Warner of Raleigh, "once the TiVo Series 3 devices are released [they] will be able to install a CableCARD for those devices as well as any other CableLabs approved devices." Gee, thanks so much for officially adopting support for a technology mandated by FCC for quite some time now. And people wonder why there's consumer fear, uncertainty, and dismay about CableCARD -- and why manufacturers can't seem to sell the damned things.

[Crazylink @ Aug 7th 2006 7:31AM]

What do you guys have against Time Warner?

[TivoSeries5 @ Dec 27th 2007 5:10AM]

TIME WARNER CABLE CARDS WON'T SUPPORT NEW HD CHANNELS OR ON-DEMAND/PPV!!!

The latest on Time Warner Cable:

I got a new TIVO SERIES 3 for Christmas after owning and using the dual tuner series 2 with nothing but great things to say using my existing Time Warner Cable but once I got HD I wanted to upgrade.

The series 3 says you "may need" the cable cards. In the case of Time Warner - yes you must have them if you want to tune anything above channel 99 before 2009 when analog goes away. The first indication was when there were NO IR or SERIAL connections to the cable box to change channels - there is no choice.

So while contemplating to go back to the Series 2 or stick it out on 3 - I called Time Warner to find out how to get these "cable cards" and they basically warned me that the existing On Demand and PPV would no longer be available (which I don't use so I won't miss it) BUT they warned me that some HD channels would not work and NO FUTURE HD CHANNELS WOULD WORK! I didn't understand why after having them explain it to me 3 times but it had to do with using a 2 way signal and saving bandwidth which still doesn't make sense but that is their story. Then my window for TWC is 9am - 7pm!

I'm going to stick it out because I think there will be more to come between these two big kids in the sandbox.

[David @ Aug 7th 2006 7:37AM]

Crazylink you are the jetsam of society. You don't keep up with the facts and then criticize those that do and report it. Pay attention to the story before commenting!

[Matthew Boyd @ Aug 7th 2006 8:47AM]

Definition of jetsam:
jet·sam n.
A dumbass.

Because you know he won't bother to look it up and if he does, he won't understand the "true" meaning of it. ;)

[Gabe @ Aug 7th 2006 8:48AM]

The power of blogging! I would like to think that the uproar and coverage of this issue on Engadget helped get this fixed. Thanks for being our consumer watchdog on this!

[MDB @ Aug 7th 2006 9:28AM]

vaguely related? I wouldn't call it vauge... AOL owns engadget, and AOL and Time Warner are merged... so they're like your step-parent. I don't know if I'd call that vague. It's not like a cousin-in-law.

[kevin @ Aug 7th 2006 10:55AM]

Great. I'll care about this issue if Tivo actually releases the series 3.

[Raskawa @ Aug 7th 2006 11:11AM]

Cheers to Engadget for having the balls to standup to TW and the other friggin content providers that are keeping consumers from having the freedom to watch what they want, when they what, how they want.

And to save the trolls their precious time, I don't mind paying more to have those things - I want them to just make it possible for me to do those things and stop blocking the technology advances for the sake of corporate control.

[TivoSeries3 @ Aug 7th 2006 3:00PM]

I just hope that the cableco's don't go overboard with the copy protection flags, and prevent you from time shifting programming on "premium" channels like HBO/Showtime. I have been dealing with this (intermittently) with my HD-DVR with a cablecard installed.

[David @ Aug 7th 2006 4:02PM]

Interestingly enough, I e-mailed my cable provider, Cox, about this issue about a week ago. I made reference to TWC's reluctance to cooperative and all the usual information about the Series 3 being Cable Labs certified, etc. Today, I received this e-mail:

Dear David -----:

Thank you for your e-mail.

We appreciate the time you have taken to provide us with this feed back.

On your behalf we have contact a Supervisor for additional assistance.

We have been advised that this would not be an available option.

For further information and assistance you may contact our Technical
Support Team at 888-269-9693.


We hope that we have been able to provide you with the information you
requested. If we have not, or if we can be of any additional service to
you, please do not hesitate to contact us again.

Thank you.
Claire
Cox Communications Online Customer Care Team

If you need additional information on other Cox products or services,
please visit our web site at

http://www.cox.com

[kbiggs @ Dec 8th 2006 10:55AM]

I ran into a similar problem with my Cox provider here in Omaha but after a 3-way phone call with Tivo and Cox they caved in. Reading them the legal mumbo jumbo from the FCC seems to get their attention. They did tell me however that after they installed the devices and got them working they would not support me. I hope these things work well for both our sakes.

[Thomas @ Aug 7th 2006 10:16PM]

I work for the WI division and we, from Day 1 that I asked about the T3 (when it was first anounced) if we would support them, my reply was YES.

And last week it was just made offical from our Corp. Office in our daily meeting..

and to TivoSeries3: It is the publishers that put the copy flags on programming.. Currently almost all 20th Century Fox programs on our VOD system has macrovision and CableFlags enabled..

[I,Robot @ Aug 7th 2006 11:58PM]

@ Crazylink -- #1 wrote, “What do you guys have against Time Warner?”

Um… everything written in the article above, you JUST READ? Duh. Were you paying attention or just drifting off into space, while you were reading?

As for MDB – The Engadget guys JUST slammed Time Warner for being jerk-asses about the cable-cards. And burn AOL last week, for something similar. So… what are YOU talking about?

[Jason @ Aug 8th 2006 12:59AM]

id watch the public TWX bashing - any misinformation may be possible grounds for lawsuits.