Details are sparse, but Time Warner Cable plans to provide access to Internet video content to their customers, to compete with the likes of TiVo and Apple TV. According to Reuters:
“Right now it’s pretty hard to get Internet stuff on your TV,” [Chief Executive Glenn Britt] said at the Sanford C. Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference in New York.
“We’re actually going to have equipment we make available to subscribers,” he said. “It’s actually going to be a new wireless cable modem that will allow you to network everything in your house.”
Britt gave few specific details on how the service would work or when it would be available.
“Within a relatively short time … it’s going to be very easy to get Internet TV on your big screen TV,” he said, estimating it would take between one to two years to popularize such technology already sold by the likes of Apple Inc.
This is definitely a growing market with products like TiVo, Apple TV, Roku’s Netflix box, DivX Connected boxes, etc. Being able to provide access to online content will help cable MSOs compete with the consumer electronics vendors. It remains to be seen how Time Warner will handle the access, how open it will be, and which content formats it will handle.
