Friday, July 7, 2006
RIP CableCard - We Barely Knew Thee
Posted by Chris Gohlke in "HARDWARE" @ 04:00 AM
"Cable Cards have all but disappeared from consumer level TVs. There are a few still floating out there but they tend to be in the more pricey models that offer little to no advantage over the normal sets. One, the cable companies simply did not encourage them due to the amount of monthly rental fees associated with cable boxes. They make too much money with those boxes to promote an alternative solution. Second: the limitations of the card. Cables boxes cost more to the consumer, but they do offer a lot more features. The current implementation of Cable Cards only offer a one way communication stream and therefore cannot have the same interactive features like the on-screen guide or Video-on-Demand."
To just take it a little further, sure the cable companies like the cable box rental fees, but without two-way communication, the lack of ability to sell pay-per-view and video-on-demand are probably the bigger detractors to adoption.
To just take it a little further, sure the cable companies like the cable box rental fees, but without two-way communication, the lack of ability to sell pay-per-view and video-on-demand are probably the bigger detractors to adoption.
