The Fat Lady Sings For Aria At CableOne

EchoStar just hasn’t had much luck with their Aria solution for cable. They’ve been trying to market CableCARD products to cable MSOs for a while now, including SlingLoaded models, but they haven’t been able to get much traction. Last summer they branded the effort under the Aria name, and managed to get CableOne to trial the system. CableOne, as a mid-sized MSO with 720,000 customers, was just the kind of operator EchoStar was targeting with Aria.

But it seems it has fallen apart, and CableOne has pulled Aria out of trials, as reported by Light Reading. But what is bad news for EchoStar could be good news for TiVo:

CableOne’s interest in EchoStar, Charlie Ergen’s technology and set-top box outfit, goes back a bit. EchoStar and TiVo Inc. were among the companies the MSO was looking at in mid-2010, when CableOne was mulling its next-gen video service strategy. TiVo has once again emerged as “a very strong candidate” for that business, a source says. Motorola Mobility Inc. remains CableOne’s primary digital set-top and security vendor.

Things have changed since mid-2010, TiVo now has a proven track record with deployments at RCN, Suddenlink, Grande Communications, and Charter. Including the ability to rapidly deploy with a new operator, proven with the short turn around time on the Grande deal. CableOne falls right between RCN and Suddenlink in size, so it would be right in TiVo’s sweet spot.

Via Light Reading.