Light Reading published an article describing how Time Warner is modifying its usage caps and another article listing the usage caps both Time Warner and ATT are offering in Beaumont, Texas. Time Warner is offering a higher tier that offers a higher usage cap.
These caps range from 5 GB per month to 150 GB per month.
It is always interesting to calculate how much HD TV viewing that these caps will permit. A cap of 10 GB permits less than 3 hours of HD viewing in the month. A cap of 100 GB permits less that 1 hour of HD viewing per day and a cap of 150 GB permits less that 1.5 hours per day.
Clearly these caps will discourage the use of the broadband service to deliver video to the TV. This is certainly a way that the telcos and the cable companies can keep their customers on their own TV services and away from over the top Internet TV services.
Showing posts with label Time Warner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Time Warner. Show all posts
Friday, April 10, 2009
Friday, January 18, 2008
Time Warner Cable to test Usage Limits
A Light Reading article stated that Time Warner Cable will start a trial of differential broadband pricing that will charge higher fees to the 5 percent of its cable modem users that use 50 percent of its network bandwidth.
The trial apparently will put some new customers on a metered billing plan. It could become a national offering if successful. It appears that customers who are part of the trial will be able to track consumption using a web tool and, if needed, upgrade to a higher tier.
There have been comments by executives of other cable companies stating that the industry will move to usage based offerings in general. Rogers in Canada already has a cap of about 90 gigabytes on its 18 mbps tier.
I expect that telcos want to use similar usage based techniques on their broadband services as well. Both the telcos and the cable companies are facing significant network expansions to support the increasing demand for broadband Internet bandwidth.
These caps are one technique that both telcos and cable companies can use to limit the use of these broadband services to deliver video content, especially to systems like Apple TV that connect TVs to the Internet. Rogers 90 gigabyte limit amounts to only about one hour of HD viewing per day. Clearly, both the telcos and the cable companies want viewers to watch their TV offerings rather than over the top Internet offerings.
The trial apparently will put some new customers on a metered billing plan. It could become a national offering if successful. It appears that customers who are part of the trial will be able to track consumption using a web tool and, if needed, upgrade to a higher tier.
There have been comments by executives of other cable companies stating that the industry will move to usage based offerings in general. Rogers in Canada already has a cap of about 90 gigabytes on its 18 mbps tier.
I expect that telcos want to use similar usage based techniques on their broadband services as well. Both the telcos and the cable companies are facing significant network expansions to support the increasing demand for broadband Internet bandwidth.
These caps are one technique that both telcos and cable companies can use to limit the use of these broadband services to deliver video content, especially to systems like Apple TV that connect TVs to the Internet. Rogers 90 gigabyte limit amounts to only about one hour of HD viewing per day. Clearly, both the telcos and the cable companies want viewers to watch their TV offerings rather than over the top Internet offerings.
Friday, February 9, 2007
U.S. Cable Upgrades Set-top Boxes
In the U.S., Comcast, Cox, and Time Warner are adopting set-top boxes that support Docsis Set-top Gateway (DSG) technology and OpenCable Application Platform (OCAP) middleware.
DSG uses DOCSIS cable modem technolgoy for out-of-band video signaling. It enables cable operators to send and receive data from subscriber set-top boxes that include electronic program guides, emergency alerts, and downloadable conditional access.
The OCAP middleware provides a standard interface that can support common third party applications across multiple set-top boxes and across multiple cable operators.
DSG and OCAP bring many of the advantages of IPTV to the cable companies. The cable companies will slowly deploy this technology, using it mainly to support new digital subscribers. It is quite unlikely that they will make a wholesale swap out. This means that the IPTV networks will continue to have significant technical advantages over cable networks in terms of deployed capability.
DSG uses DOCSIS cable modem technolgoy for out-of-band video signaling. It enables cable operators to send and receive data from subscriber set-top boxes that include electronic program guides, emergency alerts, and downloadable conditional access.
The OCAP middleware provides a standard interface that can support common third party applications across multiple set-top boxes and across multiple cable operators.
DSG and OCAP bring many of the advantages of IPTV to the cable companies. The cable companies will slowly deploy this technology, using it mainly to support new digital subscribers. It is quite unlikely that they will make a wholesale swap out. This means that the IPTV networks will continue to have significant technical advantages over cable networks in terms of deployed capability.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Time Warner IPTV Flunks Out
Time Warner has called a halt to its IPTV experiment that it offered to 9,000 subscribers in San Diego. Time Warner provided the abiity to these subscribers to view all 75 cannels that it offers over a PC. Less than 90 people per day used the service.
The PC did not become a replacement for the TV in. Instead, the channels accessed from PCs were used almost as a second thought. Viewers typically would be working on their computer and trying to keep on top of a live sports event or the news.
Time Warner found that the technical approach in this trial was not scalable and is working on a better approach.
While this shows that IPTV on a PC is not a slam dunk, it would be a mistake to count it out. The important usage cases have yet to be defined. In any case, Time Warner has not given up on it and is continuing to develop the technology.
The PC did not become a replacement for the TV in. Instead, the channels accessed from PCs were used almost as a second thought. Viewers typically would be working on their computer and trying to keep on top of a live sports event or the news.
Time Warner found that the technical approach in this trial was not scalable and is working on a better approach.
While this shows that IPTV on a PC is not a slam dunk, it would be a mistake to count it out. The important usage cases have yet to be defined. In any case, Time Warner has not given up on it and is continuing to develop the technology.
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