May 15, 2014

Information Models for Cable Industry

CableLabs CTO Ralph Brown talked to CED Magazine about our development of information models for the cable operator industry. The data information architecture seeks to integrate the different networks and systems into a common platform. See Ralph's quotes here, and reach more about Cable Information Architecture on our blog.

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May 14, 2014

Nielsen: TV Leads In Viewership, Ad Spend

Mobile video streams are on the rise. Pay-TV subscribers are cutting their cords in droves.  Right?  Not so fast, says Nielsen. According to a new report from the respected agency, TV still leads the market in video viewership (not to mention ad spend) by a large margin.  Based on third-quarter 2013 data, viewers spent, on average, 55.5 hours watching traditional TV versus nearly 15 hours on time-shifted TV; 34 hours using mobile-web or an app on a smartphone; and about 28 hours via internet on a computer in the quarter last year.  More on the report and deeper numbers from MediaPost.

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May 13, 2014

2015 Chevy Malibu Will Have Wireless Option

Connected cars (something CableLabs has researched) seem to be an inevitable addition to the Internet of Things, and Chevy is hoping to lead the trend. OnStar (yes, that OnStar) will be offering 4G LTE connectivity to some 30 General Motors vehicles, starting next month with the Chevy Malibu. OnStar will offer a subscription package for the data, which will allow drivers and passengers to stream music, play videogames, and surf the Internet. More on the new option and pricing from Re/Code.    

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May 9, 2014

CableCARD Deployment Exceeds 47M

According to a new report from the NCTA, the nation’s top nine incumbent cable operators have deployed more than 47 million MSO-supplied set-tops with CableCARDs.  That number is up from 45 million reported earlier this year. For more on the numbers and what they might mean, take a look at Jeff Baumgartner's breakdown on MultiChannel News.

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May 8, 2014

Nielson: 17 of 189 Channels

On average, American pay-TV subscribers have about 189 channels to choose from. But, according to new research by Nielson, the average viewer only watches about 17 of those 189 available channels. The data "substantiates the notion that more content does not necessarily equate to more channel consumption. And that means quality is imperative--for both content creators and advertisers," the researchers concluded.   More on the report from FierceCable.

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May 6, 2014

Cable Providers Look to Boost Broadband

Multiple MSOs and operators have recently announced plans to offer downstream speeds as fast as 1Gbps. Alan Breznick at Light Reading picked up on the seeming trend, and talks about it more in-depth – including how moves like this may enable cable operators to fend off competitors in the broadband space – in a recent article.

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May 5, 2014

Report: Hotspot 2.0 Poised for Liftoff

From CED Magazine: "According to a recent report by Infonetics Research, Hotspot 2.0 is the next big item on the Wi-Fi checklist, along with the monetization of Wi-Fi services. Hotspot 2.0, which is also known as Wi-Fi Certified Passpoint, allows mobile devices to automatically join a Wi-Fi network based upon preferences and network optimization whenever the user enters a Hotspot 2.0-enabled area." Read the full story here.

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May 2, 2014

Cable Show 2014: Cable’s Wi-Fi Ambitions

Not surprisingly, Wi-Fi was a major topic of discussion at the Cable Show this week. Ostensibly, Wi-Fi could be looked at as a service that cable operators use to retain customers, but as Sue Marek of FierceCable points out, it's about much more than that.  Read her take here.

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May 1, 2014

Cable Hones Its EST Edge

From Jeff Baumgartner at Multichannel News: "Pay TV providers are looking to join the race to sell movies and TV shows through all-digital multiscreen storefronts, as retail distribution models shift away from physical DVDs and Blu-ray discs. And as Verizon Communications has already discovered with Flex View, an EST service the telco launched in 2010, pay TV operators have not just the foundation on which to build their digital video stores, but also a direct sales link to millions of customers." Read the full story here.

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