Time Warner Cable offers CableCARD

[Skaggs]

Time Warner Cable is launching a CableCARD initiative in order to keep up with the demands of our customers. Those who wish to access analog, digital cable, HDTV and premium channels without a digital set-top box may use a CableCARD™. The CableCARD™ is a small device that plugs directly into your digital cable-ready TV. It can be activated, serviced and leased monthly through Time Warner Cable.


The card will serve as cable's conditional access security means and will "pass" the appropriate set of programming services to the cable customer. Because this is a one-way device, cable customers will still require a digital set top box to receive our two-way services such as iCONTROL and the Interactive Program Guide.

If you are satisfied with receiving analog and digital programming (including premium services like HBO & Cinemax) on a one-way basis, you can use CableCARD™ instead of a digital set top box. If you want to take advantage of Time Warner Cable's interactive services, such as iCONTROL movies or premium services or our Interactive Program Guide, then you will need to use a digital set top box.

The devices will be offered on a leased basis for $1.75 per month. Customers will enjoy the same picture quality with CableCARD™ as they do with a digital set-top box.


More info available on the TWC website

[Skaggs]

CableCards Let You Lose Your Cable Box

Slip a card into some newer TVs and you can toss your set-top box--but you'll give up interactive services.

Yardena Arar
From the October 2004 issue of Digital World magazine
Posted Thursday, September 02, 2004

CableCard Primer
What it is: A card that slides into a TV and acts as a digital cable decoder.
What it does: Replaces your digital cable set-top box.
Where you get one: Your cable provider.
What you need: A CableCard-ready TV.

Boxes, boxes, boxes--ugh. Between your digital cable box, DVD player, home theater tuner, digital video recorder, and trusty old VCR, it's difficult to keep a home entertainment center looking sleek. Some newer TVs have special slots that let digital cable subscribers eliminate a box--but you may not want to chuck your cable box just yet.

How They Work

The size of a credit card but slightly thicker, a CableCard slides into a special slot in a CableCard-ready TV and handles authentication and decoding functions.

Since July 1, under an agreement between the consumer electronics and cable industries and the FCC, cable providers must offer CableCards to customers who request them for use with the CableCard-ready sets that are already available or about to hit the market.

CableCards can save you a few bucks: Monthly card-rental fees hover in the $2 vicinity, compared with $5 to $13 for digital set-top boxes. So what's not to like?

The big flaw is that today's CableCards are not capable of two-way communications: They can receive instructions but cannot make requests or send information. That means you can't enjoy interactive services: no video on demand, pay-per-view programming, or interactive program guide.

If you're using a TiVo or ReplayTV DVR, you might not be pleased: The IR blaster technology that these boxes use with digital set-top boxes (it allows the DVR to change channels according to your recording requests) may not work with your CableCard set. At press time, TiVo officials said they were talking to TV manufacturers to figure out which sets can work with existing TiVos. Keep an eye on TiVo's Web site for updates.

A Fix in Sight

Companies such as Motorola are already developing CableCard-ready video recorders, and while neither TiVo nor ReplayTV would comment, it's likely they'll follow suit. At least one cable operator, Insight, is offering a free CableCard to customers who pay $12.95 a month for its combination high-def set-top box/DVR. This two-decoder setup lets you record one live show on your DVR while watching another live show via the CableCard.

If you're thinking of buying a CableCard-ready TV now in anticipation of the time when two-way cards become available, think again. CableLabs, which developed the CableCard spec, says today's CableCard sets will not be compatible with those cards. And no one is speculating on when two-way cards will happen.