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Time Warner Cable NYC Begins DVR Distribution
MikeTRose writes "Today's NYT Circuits section has an article about the proliferation of digital television choices for cable and satellite customers. They mention that Time Warner Cable will be starting to offer DVR cable boxes to New York City subscribers in September 2003. Apparently the time-shifting features of the new Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8000 (flash demo) set-tops are unusually powerful, as I got mine in Brooklyn this past Tuesday. 80 GB drive, which equals an estimated 50 hours of digital cable programming (no quality controls a la TiVo or ReplayTV, everything is as-broadcast). Programming interface is integrated completely into the slightly-updated channel guide, and you hit one big ol' record button to save a show. The tuner can handle two channels at once, so you can watch one/record one, or record two programs while watching a prerecorded show (similar to the DirecTV TiVo units if I recall correctly). Works great so far, and there's no quality problem with recompressing the digital cable as there is with standalone DVRs, nor is there the annoying 2-3 second channel change lag while it caches video. At less than $10 a month -- no cost to the subscriber for the box -- that money we were saving for a TiVo is up for grabs."
Sounds great, but what about monitoring your viewing habits?
MICHAEL G. MANSOUR, a 28-year-old Manhattan financial professional, used to watch television the way most people do. For his favorite shows, like "The Sopranos," he would make a point of being home when they were scheduled. If the show was something he more or less liked, he would put up with the commercials. If he felt like watching a movie, he went to the video store.
"Basically, I would try to remember my shows and flip to them if I could remember," he recalled this week.
How quaint.
Things started to change in Mr. Mansour's television life last fall when his cable provider, Time Warner Cable, introduced video on demand, which allowed him to watch "The Sopranos" and dozens of other programs and movies whenever he wanted. Then, for Christmas, he received a TiVo digital video recorder - "the greatest gift ever," as he put it - which lets him record his favorite shows effortlessly and even suggests new ones.
"Now, between TiVo and the on-demand, I don't watch anything live anymore," he said. He doesn't go to the video store, either. And he skips past most commercials.
So does he watch more or less television than he used to?
"I watch better television than I used to," was his reply.
Within the next five years or so, Mr. Mansour's new habits may become common as the cable and satellite television industries stake their competitive future on a panoply of services that go far beyond the daily program grid.
Even Mr. Mansour's seven-month-old TiVo recorder may soon face a new kind of competition. In September, Time Warner Cable is planning to introduce a new set-top box in New York City that will include a TiVo-like recorder fully integrated into the overall cable system. The service will cost $5 to $10 a month (compared with $13 for TiVo), with no charge for the box itself (TiVo charges $249 or more).
And this month the competition to offer new digital television services grew hotter when Cablevision, the big New York City area cable TV provider, launched a direct-broadcast television satellite from Cape Canaveral.
Phone companies, too, are getting into the act. Last week SBC Communications, the local-phone giant, announced that it would invest $500 million in EchoStar, the No. 2 satellite television company in the nation after DirecTV, and try to sell packages of television, high-speed Internet access, and home and wireless phone service.
While many communications and media experts are skeptical about Cablevision's and SBC's plans, the moves underscore the frantic pace at which such companies are offering new TV services. The problem is figuring out what seems most worthwhile.
For potential customers, "it's going to take a while to sort through all of these messages," Aditya Kishore, an analyst for the Yankee Group, a research firm in Boston, said in a telephone interview. "From a consumer perspective, you really need to do your research and figure out what you're getting."
Of course, the point of most new services is to allow more convenience, not confusion. Whether the product is video on demand or an integrated TiVo-like digital video recorder, the aim is to let viewers be the masters of their television rather than remain at the mercy of a network scheduler. "The whole category has been about the customer being able to get control," said Chuck Ellis, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Time Warner Cable, the No. 2 cable company after Comcast.
Many communications and media experts believe that in the end, consumers would prefer to buy as many services as possible from one company: a one-stop shop offering telephone, television and high-speed Internet service and perhaps even cellphone service, on one integrated bill.
Just as important, perhaps, in the rise of competition is the static or in some cases shrinking number of customers for many telephone and cable companies. To show improving financial results, the companies need more revenue from their remaining customers; hence the new
"that money we were saving for a TiVo is up for grabs."
I'll take it