Distribution

Washington -- Time Warner Cable is testing a new cloud-based navigator for advanced set-tops and gateways with employees in Syracuse, N.Y., and will expand trials to New York City and Los Angeles this fall ahead of a full scale deployment in 2014, executives said here Tuesday.

DirecTV ordered a second season of its first original series Rogue on Tuesday.

The renewal was for 10 episodes and will premiere sometime next year. The series airs on DirecTV's Audience Network, where the company has previously aired new seasons of Friday Night Lights and Damages.

Washington -- Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts presented the MSO's “future of television,” and its name is X2.

Offering a sneak peak of the MSO’s new cloud-based interface for set-tops, tablets, smartphones and other connected devices, Roberts showed off a system that teems with recommendation and personalization features as well as a voice-based search capability that will be baked into a new remote control.

The new interface is a revamped version of the currently deployed X1 platform. X2, Roberts said, will be deployed sometime this fall.

Washington -- Comcast is targeting the automated, “smart” home market more directly with the launch of Xfinity Home Control, a new service tier that supports elements such as video monitoring and remote thermostat controls without a security component.

Washington -- As operators continue to see subscriber losses from some of their video products, Sigma Systems is offering a number of technologies that it believes will help MSOs launch new revenue-generating services in a faster, less costly manner.

Particularly promising new services include home automation and home security for the residential market and cloud applications for the small and medium business (SMB) markets, the company noted in a release issued at the start of the Cable Show 2013 here.