http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 20th 2009 10:07AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/
Cable is not a right by no means. It's a payed service. The cable companies have to work with the networks. If they networks don't agree, the cable company can drop them (networks don't want this).

The days of HULU will not necessarily end, but it won't be free anymore. ]]>Feb 20th 2009 10:14AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/
This whole thing sounds like an easy way for cable companies to cheap out on On Demand services. ]]>Feb 20th 2009 10:14AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/
I totally appreciate having the shows online, and am more than willing to watch a 30 second ad every few minutes. However, I'm not willing to get Concast to have the privilege.]]>Feb 20th 2009 10:15AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 20th 2009 10:18AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/
Option 1: Shows are available online via an easily accessible advertising revenue supported platform (eg: Hulu). People can watch the shows on their TV via Boxee or similar, or watch them in the browser on their computer. People use this due to ease of use. Content provider receives advertising revenue.

Option 2: Shows are only available online via a subscription service bundled with cable supplier or similar . Only people who can access it are those with the correct cable supplier, and is limited to the supplier's choice of where they can watch it. Additional effort/cost is more than the additional effort involved in downloading from torrent sites or the like. Content provider gets decreasing revenue from the supplier, and no revenue relating to torrents.

Which is the better business case? ]]>Feb 20th 2009 10:18AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/while that makes sense in theory, do you really think comcast will drop nbc? the backlash from customers would be insane, not to mention that you can get nbc ota, so cable companies are powerless for network broadcasts]]>Feb 20th 2009 10:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 21st 2009 10:51AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 20th 2009 10:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/
And who knows... maybe the cable company even gets the user interface and delivery model right (like Hulu has)! That'll be the tough part of this for them IMO.]]>Feb 20th 2009 10:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/
I pay $62.95/month to Comcast for the cable modem rental and service. That's it. That $62.95/month goes solely to Comcast (sure, the "rental fee" subsidizes their purchase cost on the cable modem, but I've paid for that exact same modem for almost six years now so I have to assume I have more, much more, than covered their costs on that).

So I'm using OTA to get my broadcast TV, and I have an Apple TV to grab the video podcasts and cable shows I watch from the iTMS. I also game online and stream Netflix. No VoIP here, and, I should note, that I might grab a show unavailable elsewhere using a torrent, but that's very, very rare. I'm running a router using the Tomato firmware and, from month to month, I'm using a decent amount less than 100GB of bandwidth... so I'm not one of their crazier customers.

How much, exactly, does it cost for them to maintain that connection coming into my house?

I just can't imagine, even sucking up 100GB of bandwidth a month (when you have users like my mother, who might use 1GB of bandwidth a month, if that), that Comcast is not making a profit from my being their customer. I even looked into going to their next highest speed... but at ~$75/month they were still going to keep the 250GB bandwidth cap (and, while I'm nowhere near hitting that cap, I think it's a bit greedy to give higher speed at a higher price and not increase the cap for those customers).

So, no, It's not a sound business plan. It's greed, plain and simple. And when you are a greedy company and your customers know you are greedy, you end up paying by losing those customers.]]>Feb 20th 2009 10:54AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/
What the cable companies are doing is extortion - they are forcing themselves to be a part of a transaction that should be directly between consumers and television networks, because the cable companies control the pipes and have the power to harm the network's traditional services (e.g. by dropping channels or moving channels to less favorable "tiers"). Right now, delivery of traditional channels is more important to the television networks, so the networks comply. But that compliance today will come back to haunt the television networks in 20 years, because the cable companies will have established themselves as a middleman instead of the "dumb pipe" they should be (dumb pipe - we pay for bandwidth and can use that bandwidth however we choose, including buying streaming video directly from the source of our choice).]]>Feb 20th 2009 11:09AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 20th 2009 11:17AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/
try signing up for comcast's basic cable service. it's about $12 a month and with this you will get the discount on the internet service. which comes out cheaper than just internet. that's what i do. my bil is about $58 a month with both.]]>Feb 20th 2009 11:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/
As for dealing directly with the content producers...well... there is always Itunes where you can cut cable companies completely out of the loop, or by buying a DVD, etc. Nothing is free though. It never has been. (Personally I Tivo things and skip the commercials completely. If I love a show, I'll buy the Blu-Ray version eventually. If I forget to Tivo, I'll watch it on Hulu. If Hulu suddenly was closed off to me because I have Sat and not Cable, I'm sure I'd still find a way to watch, one way or the other)]]>Feb 20th 2009 11:34AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/
as for the other sources, it's mostly Windows only and that's just not convenient for me.

cable companies can't take hulu down, they don't have that power or right, but if they make a better way to watch for their customers, how's that not a good thing?]]>Feb 20th 2009 12:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/alt.binaries.multimedia

bitches!!!]]>Feb 20th 2009 3:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/You broke the first rule!
you bastard....lol]]>Feb 23rd 2009 8:59AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 20th 2009 10:08AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 20th 2009 12:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 20th 2009 1:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 20th 2009 10:08AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 20th 2009 10:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 20th 2009 10:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 20th 2009 10:29AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/
We need to have at least one thing to enjoy.]]>Feb 20th 2009 10:45AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 20th 2009 2:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 20th 2009 12:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 20th 2009 10:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/
It's only when the government starts making back-room contracts with these providers that they become lethargic and heavy-handed, taking the position of "You don't like what we're doing? Then leave us...you'll be back..."

Government involvement creates lazy corporations. The only role the federal government should play in private industry is making sure that they are being as competitive as possible.]]>Feb 20th 2009 11:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/
why does this even matter?]]>Feb 20th 2009 10:15AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/
I have never paid for cable, and never will, but I will gladly pay an additional Netflix fee to instantly play TV shows, movies, etc... streaming over the net.]]>Feb 20th 2009 10:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 20th 2009 10:25AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 20th 2009 10:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/
1. Become a full-fledged ISP.
2. Quit the business and let someone else take over.

If they choose to become an ISP, then they'll have to actually compete on quality of Internet service. That means less caps, faster speeds, etc. I honestly can't wait until cable television fails, because it is a terribly antiquated system, and we'll move forward by ten years in terms of technology when they finally fold.]]>Feb 20th 2009 11:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 20th 2009 10:18AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 20th 2009 10:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 20th 2009 11:11AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 20th 2009 10:25AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/
Hmm, well if they made you log in to a special site, what's to stop me from sharing that login with 1000 of my best friends and family members?

I don't think they thought this through...]]>Feb 20th 2009 10:25AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 20th 2009 10:29AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/
clap

clap clap clap clap clap....]]>Feb 20th 2009 11:13AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 20th 2009 10:26AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 20th 2009 1:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 20th 2009 10:29AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/
Then again, I wonder if my neighbor has cable. They send tons of wi-fi signals through my house already. I probably wouldn't be effected by this at home, but at the free coffee shop, airport, and mall wi-fi spots it wouldn't work.

Then again, I don't download TV shows since I have Mythbuntu grabbing all the HD shows over-the-air that I want to watch.]]>Feb 20th 2009 10:31AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 20th 2009 10:31AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 20th 2009 10:38AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/
PS If it ends up being my cable provider's (Comcast) fault I'll cancel my service.

PSS Does anyone use PS anymore?]]>Feb 20th 2009 10:35AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/cable-companies-work-to-bring-new-online-content-to-pay-tv-subsc/Feb 20th 2009 11:38AM