NTCA's The New Edge » Cox

Whole-Home DVR: A Necessary Feature of Your Video Bundle?

Jesse Ward — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 19:38:21 +0000

Several video service providers are now offering whole-home DVR services, which leaves me wondering, is whole-home DVR a mandatory feature in order to remain competitive in the video marketplace?

Whole-Home DVR typically lets users record and playback from multiple locations within the household. When users choose to watch the same recording, they can do so in different rooms with the ability to fast-forward, pause or rewind without affecting other viewers. Whole-home DVR also allows a subscriber to pause a show in one room and resume watching in another one.

AT&T has leveraged its whole-home DVR service as a key competitive differentiation. The service offers the ability to record up to four shows at one time and store up to 233 hours of standard definition (SD) video or 65 hours of high definition (HD) programming. The AT&T service is available at no additional charge for U-verse TV customers.

In early May, Cox Communications become the first cable company to launch a whole-home DVR service. Cox offers a 500 gig hard drive. Up to three different recordings can be viewed simultaneously on different televisions throughout the home. Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCa) technology will drive the whole-home DVR service, which is available for an additional $5-per-month.

On June 9, DirecTV announced that it too now offers a whole-home DVR service which is available in as many as 15-room homes. It lets users record a pair of shows while watching two other ones. DirecTV charges $7 for its traditional DVR service and an additional $3 per month for the whole-home DVR service.

And last but not least, Mediacom Communications announced last week that it will launch whole-home DVR, initially offering the service to customers “in more than 200 Illinois communities located between Rock Island and Champaign Counties and extending north to Wisconsin.” The offering provides seamless television recording and playback in up to three rooms, with the capability of recording six programs at the same time while playing back three recordings. The service utilizes a 500 GB hard drive capable of recording up to 140 hours of analog video, 390 hours of digital video, or 70 hours of HD video. Mediacom traditionally charges $10.95 per month for its DVR service. The cable provider has not announced if there will be an additional charge for its whole-home DVR service.

Oh, and one more thing. Comcast is rumored to be teeing up the service. No official word yet, but the outlook is favorable.

Cox Launches Whole-Home DVR

Jesse Ward — Mon, 10 May 2010 21:11:15 +0000

Cox Communications has revamped its home entertainment experience launching a new Trio program guide, tru2way-capable Cisco set-top boxes (STBs) and the first whole home DVR-system by a nationwide cable operator. The new features will be available to subscribers who pay $5 more on top of any level of Cox Advanced TV service and subscribe to the Plus Package.

The cable provider is using tru2way-based Cisco 8642 HD/DVR and 1642 HD receivers to deploy the Plus Package and these will be used in all Cox markets, including Cox’s Motorola environments. The STBs will afford users the capability to tune frequencies above 860 MHz, where additional HD programming will be stored.

The Cisco STBs also contain a 500 gig hard drive, about three times the storage that the cable provider is offering with its current boxes. This will come in handy alongside the Cox Whole Home DVR solution, which will allow subscribers to watch and control recorded shows on any TV in the home from a single DVR unit. Up to three different recordings can be viewed simultaneously on different televisions throughout the home. Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCa) technology will drive whole-home DVR service.

Cox developed the new, on-screen program guide in partnership with Frog Design and implemented by NDS.

Cox Trio Program Guide

The Trio guide features three panels on a single screen to make content browsing easier. It also endows customers with the ability to search and browse related content across three platforms – linear airings, On DEMAND titles and DVR recordings.

Studios, Cable Companies Partner to Promote VoD

Jesse Ward — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 19:14:30 +0000

Eight Hollywood studios and eight cable companies have joined forces for a $30 million advertising campaign during the next three months to promote awareness of movies available on cable video on demand (VoD). This is the first time rival studios have come together to push consumers to rent more movies through their cable boxes.

The TV, print and online ad campaign will feature the theme “The Video Store Just Moved In” and will promote the ease of ordering movies at home, via the click of a remote. It also includes a dedicated Web site at CableVideoStore.com and a Movies on Demand logo.

The studio partners in the Movies on Demand initiative include Time Warner’s Warner Bros Entertainment, News Corp.’s 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures Entertainment, NBC Universal’s Universal Pictures and Focus Features, Rogue, Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment. Notably absent are Paramount and Walt Disney. The cable partners include Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable, Cox, Cablevision’s digital service iO TV, Insight, Armstrong, Bend Broadband and Bright House Networks.

Visit the website.
The New York Times has more.

Cox Trials Voice and Video over LTE

Jesse Ward — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:07:22 +0000

Cox Communications announced today that it has successfully completed trials of voice and high-definition video over LTE, the first clear sign that the company is moving toward deploying the 4G technology.

The 4G trials were conducted in Phoenix and San Diego, utilizing both 700 MHz and AWS spectrum. Cox collaborated with Alcatel-Lucent and Huawei to test wireless services and applications.

As you may remember, Cox has focused its recent efforts on deploying wireless services using the 3G CDMA EVDO standard in three test markets: Hampton Roads, Va., Orange County, Calif. and Omaha, Nebraska. Cox is leveraging Sprint’s CDMA network in order to accomplish the task. When Cox launches its own network, Sprint will be one of its roaming partners.

Rovi Developing IPG with Online Video

Jesse Ward — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:25:01 +0000

California-based video company Rovi is in the early stages of designing an interactive program guide (IPG) for cable operators that would integrate video content from the Internet, linear cable TV and video-on-demand. The company expects to have details on the new IP-enabled IPG in 2010.

Rovi says that competitive pressure has influenced cable companies, and their extremely interested in the device. “The [cable] industry has shifted in the last year,” said Corey Ferengul, Rovi’s executive vice president of product management and marketing. “Their fear of over-the-top video is pulling us forward more quickly than we were planning just six months ago.”

Rovi, previously known as Macrovision Solutions, currently offers cable providers two guides, Passport and i-Guide. Its Passport guide is deployed to about 3.9 million U.S. cable households via operators, including Cox Communications and RCN.

Rovi also offers TotalGuide to consumer-electronics manufacturers. Previously code-named Liquid, the IPG is designed for Internet-enabled HDTVs and other devices to provide integrated access to a user’s personal media and Web content.

Multichannel News has more.
View Rovi’s Web site.

Cox Reveals Wireless Launch Plans

Jesse Ward — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:22:07 +0000

Cox Communications Inc. has identified the first three markets that will receive the MSO’s wireless phone and mobile high-speed Internet service: Hampton Roads, Va.; Orange County, Calif.; and Omaha, Neb. Cox serves 1.45 million cable subscribers in those three markets combined.

As you may remember, Cox was initially involved in Sprint’s “Pivot” wireless venture along with Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc., and Bright House Networks. Cox announced back in April 2008 that it was cutting ties with Pivot. Then in October 2008, the MSO revealed plans to add wireless service.

This first set of markets will tap into Sprint Nextel Corp.’s 3G CDMA network “to get to market quicker, while managing every aspect of the service ourselves,” a Cox spokeswoman said in an email to Cable Digital News.

Cox has launched wireless service to a test group of Cox customers in those markets, and plans to expand the service across Hampton Roads, Omaha and Orange County in 2010, complementing those launches with retail stores.

The operator has not disclosed pricing and bundling plans or which devices will run on its wireless platform, citing competitive reasons. Cox also has not laid out a specific timeline for when it will roll out wireless in its other cable markets, which include most of Rhode Island; Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz.; San Diego; Las Vegas; and New Orleans, among others.

Cox is the third-largest cable television company in the United States, with more than 6.2 million total customers.

View the release.