Why Haven't CableCards Taken Off?
There have been 443,000 standalone CableCards put into service in the last five years by the 10 biggest U.S. cable operators.
Meanwhile, in the two years since the FCC’s integrated set-top ban went into effect in July 2007, those same MSOs have deployed 16.7 million CableCard-based set-top boxes. The whole point of that “common reliance” rule, which has required cable operators to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in compliance, was to foster the market for retail cable-ready navigation devices.
Why have only roughly 1% of digital cable TV subscribers opted to use CableCards, then?
Some blame the cable operators. BroadbandReports.com proprietor Karl Bode, for example, accuses cable companies of not promoting CableCards as alternatives to operator-leased boxes. “Not only are they not advertised, we’ve had countless customers tell us that when they’ve called their cable company to inquire about the technology, they’ve been told it isn’t offered,” he wrote in a blog post yesterday.
Note: Countless customers!
Anyway, Bode also claims that CableCards “erode set-top box, VOD and PPV revenues, on top of requiring additional truck rolls for a technology carriers don’t want to offer in the first place.”
Yes, MSOs get a recurring lease fee for set-tops. But that’s meant to recover the initial expense of the box, which takes several years to amortize, and set-top lease fees are closely regulated by the FCC. Moreover, operators also charge a lease fee for CableCards (albeit smaller).
To my mind, Bode’s other point about “VOD and PPV” probably points to the real reason CableCards aren’t more popular: because TVs or DVRs with CableCards don’t deliver the full complement of video services offered by cable providers. All interactive functions are inaccessible — including the on-screen guide, VOD, caller ID on TV, switched digital video, and any other interactive TV applications such as Time Warner Cable’s Start Over.
Tru2way is cable’s solution for providing access to two-way cable services, and the industry is still pushing that rock up the hill. Recently appointed CableLabs CEO Paul Liao (formerly CTO of Panasonic) wants to be more inclusive in working with CE makers and others (see CableLabs ITV Interop Lab Includes Comcast, TWC And Cox Guides and CableLabs CEO Liao Looks To Create Bigger Tent).
But in the meantime, the Consumer Electronics Association is as frustrated by the situation as Bode is. The trade group wants the FCC to take a look at whether new regulations are required — and specifically whether the CableCard rule “in its current form sufficiently safeguards competition in the retail device market as operators roll out new technology platforms and services” (see CEA Asks FCC To Review CableCard Rule).
Here’s my theory about why CableCards aren’t more popular: Most people don’t want to use them. And the reason cable operators don’t more actively promote them is because they don’t deliver all the services that a customer is paying for.
deld commented:
cable cards haven't taken off because you cant buy a tv taht supports them i have comcast in nepa and they now have cablecards but i get get a tv with a cable card slot !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
pcmcia.cable card commented:
having worked with computers for 40 years i apted for the card. really dis=appointed that it is not pushed ..love it, mine works fine!
Scott commented:
Standalone CableCARDs haven't take off because MSOs don’t want them to, pure and simple. They don't advertise them, they don't incent consumers to use them, and many don't train their field techs to support them adequately. I’ve seen that time and again in the real world. Why does it still take a truck roll in some markets to activate a CC? An IT tech in India can tunnel into my PC and fix a complex problem from thousands of miles away but I can't activate a simple CableCARD remotely? That's ridiculous.
Comcast charges me $22.50.mo for one HD DVR. That's $270 a year just for that 1 set top. I have 4 STBs in total and pay more than $700 a year in rental fees. I can get a pretty nice media center PC nowadays with a lot more functionality for that kind of money. You can't tell me there's no profit in STB leasing for the MSO. That’s incentive #1 for them standing in the way of standalone CableCARD success.
Plus, as Todd mentions, with a CC I don’t get the MSO guide (which is frankly a HUGE benefit in my mind as a consumer but is surely a negative to the MSO), or VOD. So they lose some advertising revenue and promotional value from the guide as well as VOD revenues from purchases and advertising. Plus free VOD is a huge retention tool. That’s incentive #2.
I called Comcast about CableCARD just recently and was told they'd lease me a card for something like $2 a month BUT that's I'd have to pay $6 and change/month to access the cable programming using the card. WTF??? That's on top of the $100+/mo I'm already paying for the various programming packages I subscribe to. I asked how come if I rent a STB there's just 1 price but with a CableCARD there's a price for the hw and a price for the programming access. Let’s just say the answer I got defied any logic.
True2way is DOA. Like “pushing a rock uphill” is a understatement. It’s more like pushing a 10 ft ball of manure uphill in my mind. It stinks, it’s amorphous, and the harder you push the deeper in crap you get until it eventually falls apart. True2way still isn’t available today, but that doesn’t matter since it was obsolete 3 years ago.
Give me a Windows 7 media center PC, a couple of extenders for the other TVs, Hulu, Boxee and Netflix, and maybe an ATSC tuner or 2 and what do I need cable for? It’s cheaper over a pretty short time period (even with the hardware), it gives me 90% of the content what I want, and gives me a lot more functionality than cable – whole-home entertainment, 1 DVR for all TVs, all my media on 1 device but available to all TVs as well as my PCs, iPhone, etc. Sure, It takes a bit of a geek to get that to work today but that’s changing fast.
Jeff commented:
I have a four year old cable card tv that I have to use a cable box with. Cablevision was at my house literally every other day because the card would lose all the channels. They blamed LG, LG blamed Cablevision, and I am stuck paying for a cable box. My built in DVR is now useless. The cable operaters should be forced to support this technology. They don't want to because they want there monthly cable box fee.
tom1996 commented:
I dread the day I will have to replace my TV, which uses a CableCARD, because there are no new sets that accept CableCARDs.
Joe Fowble commented:
How's the progress on this ?
www.multichannel.com/article/161959-CES_2009_Comcast_TWC_To_Flip_Tru2way_Switch_By_July_1.php
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 1/10/2009 9:06:00 AM EST
Las Vegas -- Comcast and Time Warner Cable executives said they’re on track to enable support for retail devices compatible with CableLabs' tru2way interactive TV specification across their footprints by July 1.
Mark commented:
I have a 4 year old CableCard TV and it works just fine, as I do not need interactivity. But try to find a new TV that supports CableCard. I can't replace the TV because there are no new models that support the technology. It is impossible for consumers to adopt CableCard when there are no new sets that support it. Try2Way cannot come soon enough.
KSkeptic commented:
Just waiting on Dish Network to release a final product. I beta tested their "cable" card with a Windows Media Center PC. I liked what I tested. As a Satellite user, am just waiting on my provider to release their final product. The media center forums are abuzz about this option!
Frankie J commented:
re "countless customers" = probably some number less than 443,000 ;)
