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Samsung and Cox get friendly over OCAP
It was exactly a year ago today that cable companies were getting all warm and fuzzy with OCAP, saying they were meant to be together and couldn't do without one another. Of course, once CES 2006 ended, so did all that lovey-dovey talk. Once again a cable provider is going out of its way to show support for the OpenCable Application Platform, as Cox Communications has signed a hardly-binding letter of intent "to accelerate the development of interactive digital cable services leveraging OCAP on Samsung HDTVs, set-top boxes and digital video recorders." Of course, we heard this same line at last year's Samsung press conference, but hey, we're willing to give it one more chance. No particulars were given in regard to any certain HDTV, STB, or DVR that would be coming down the pike, nor how quickly this stuff would get accomplished, but until we hear something substantial regarding progress after CES, we're not holding our collective breath on this one.
Another win for TiVo: Cox partnership pans out
We love it when a plan comes together. You may remember how a few months back we reported that Cox Communications sent a questionnaire to its (non-cable) customers asking them if a TiVo-powered DVR service would convince them to make the switch from satellite; well apparently the response must have been a resounding "yes!", as the two companies have officially announced a partnership that will enable Cox subscribers to gain all of that TiVo goodness with little to no effort on their part. Beginning sometime in the first half of next year, Cox digital cable customers with DVR service will have the option of downloading TiVo software directly to their existing set-top boxes -- no aggravating service calls required. It seems like everything is going right for TiVo these days: they've got Comcast and Cox under their belts, the Series 3 box almost out the door, a shiny new Emmy to flaunt, and a courtroom victory against Echostar that (assuming it holds up) will make investors very happy. TiVo Deathwatch, be gone, and let the TiVo House Party commence!
New England Cox subscribers getting MHD
We have good news for all of you Cox Communications subscribers in the Roide Island and Connecticut areas - you are getting MTV's high-def station, MHD. One of our eagle-eyed readers noticed the announcement on Cox's own pages so we have a great feeling that this is going to happen. The page indicates that MHD is going to launch on July 26 and will be found on channel 730. Cool.[thanks for the tip Dave]
Cable giants being sued for VOD patent infringement
If nothing else, you've got to admire the tenacity of a Connecticut-based firm called USA Video Interactive, which just days after losing what seems to be a final appeal in its lawsuit against Movielink, decided to go after almost all of the country's major cable operators for supposedly infringing on the same patent. Comcast, Cox, Charter, and Time Warner (disclosure: Time Warner owns the company that owns the network that includes Engadget) are all named in a suit filed Tuesday in a U.S. District Court in Texas by USA Video (maybe Cablevision got spared because of all its other legal woes), which claims that like Movielink, the cable giants are violating its so-called Store-and-Forward Video-on-Demand patent (#5,130,792, filed in 1990) by using protected technology in their own VOD services. Besides making patents, the company also offers various products revolving around email, web tools, digital video watermarking, and content delivery infrastructure, so it's probably not appropriate to bunch it in with other lawsuit-happy -- but seemingly less legitimate -- claimants such as NTP and Visto.[Via TechWeb and Digital Media Thoughts]
Cablevision postpones networked DVR
Under heavy pressure in the form of a lawsuit filed by nearly all of TV land's major content providers, industry giant Cablevision has announced that it will delay the rollout of its networked DVR offering until the service's legality is confirmed in court. The lawsuit, filed by the four key networks and their parent studios, claims that Cablevision's plan to store customers' recorded swag on their own servers as opposed to local set-top boxes constitutes a retransmission of copyrighted material, and therefore violates pre-existing agreements the company has with its providers. Cablevision, on the other hand, argues that networked DVR services are only facilitating "fair-use" of their broadcasts by consumers, who have already paid for any programs they intend to record. The outcome of this suit will be closely monitored by other players in the cable industry as well, because a victory for Cablevision would allow Cox, Comcast, et al. to begin offering their own remote storage -- good news for consumers, but perhaps bad news for our old friend TiVo.
Auction 66 could shake up wireless industry, benefit consumers
BusinessWeek writer Olga Kharif paints an interesting portrait of the potential state of the wireless industry following the government's unprecedented sale of spectrum this summer, called Auction 66, which could see a number of new players enter the voice and data market in the not-too-distant future. Following several years of industry consolidation, highlighted by Cingular picking up AT&T and Sprint grabbing Nextel, we could soon see companies that have traditionally delivered content in other fashions -- Time Warner, MySpace-owner News Corp., or Clearwire -- offer services that compete directly with the four major carriers. Several players, including Intel-backed Clearwire, Google-backed Earthlink, and a venture between Time Warner Cable, Sprint-Nextel, Comcast, Cox, and Advance/Newhouse Communications have already expressed interest in bidding for a slice of spectrum, while other bidders, which could include a Bill Gates- and Paul Allen-backed contender, will be revealed sometime next month. Unless the established carriers snatch up all the available spectrum, which is highly unlikely, fresh blood in the industry should bode well for consumers, who will likely benefit from lower prices, more services to choose from, and less restrictions on their bandwidth usage.
Cox Communications mulling partnership with TiVo?
It's been over a year since we launched the TiVo Deathwatch, and not only is the company still alive and kicking, a new survey being conducted by Cox Communications may indicate that TiVo is about to enter into a partnership with the nation's third largest cable company. Thomas Hawk reports that users on on the TiVo Community Forum are buzzing about a questionnaire that was sent to Cox Enterprises customers who currently subscribe to one or more of the company's other services, but get their TV via satellite. Among a slew of questions about DVRs in general and TiVo specifically, is one which reads in part, "If Cox were to offer digital cable service with a TiVo branded DVR for about the same price as you are currently paying for satellite service each month, how likely would you be to switch from satellite TV to Cox cable that featured this TiVo branded DVR service?" Take this for what you will, but these questions would seem to indicate that the two companies are, at the very least, involved in backroom talks of some sort, and possibly even in the planning stages of building co-branded equipment. Combined with TiVo's recent courtroom victory over EchoStar, their current partnership with Comcast, and a surprising renewal of their service contract with DirecTV, a deal with Cox may be just the ammo we need to put the Deathwatch down for good.
CES: Cable industry shows support for OCAP
The cable TV industry held a press conference at CES to show off the OpenCable Application Platform (OCAP) and their progress. In case you weren't paying attention, this is what will allow manufacturers of TV's and set-top boxes to make and sell devices directly to consumers that have the same capabilities (or maybe additional capabilities) as the boxes you can lease from your cable operator.Comcast, Charter and Advance all announced plans for limited rollouts in 2006, with other providers like Cox and Cablevision having similar plans, it will probably be over the next couple years we see this rolled out everywhere, hopefully by which time we'll have some sort of bidirectional support for HDTV tuners on the PC. LG Panasonic and Samsung are all down with OCAP with LG also recently signing a deal to include the new downloadable content protection (DCAS) in their products.So yeah, more DRM'd through and through devices for your home, but potentially much more choice over how you want to view the content you're paying for from your cable company.
