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Coming soon to Time Warner: Rewind shows you forgot to record

July 23rd, 2009, 3:35 pm by

If you’re a Time Warner Cable customer and you spot this on your TV:

Time Warner Cable upgrades TV software to prepare for new features.

… you can start getting excited. This blue screen of annoyance is a sign of new features to come.

Time Warner Cable's Start Over service. Image from NYTimesBesides the debatable improvement in the program guide, the new Mystro Navigator software, which replaces Passport software in Time Warner’s Scientific Atlanta boxes, paves the way for the “Look Back,” “Start Over” and switched digital video, all features that Time Warner mentioned to us last year.

These features will let viewers watch a TV show they didn’t record for a day or two after its initial broadcast, or restart a show if you tune in after it already began. Time Warner, essentially, is upgrading its on-demand service and creating a networked DVR, allowing for some shows to be stored at the company’s offices rather than the home DVR box itself. Though there are unwanted consequences for some users (see earlier story, “More HD channels coming to cable TV, TiVo users impacted“), this also means customers will get a massive on-demand library of current TV shows they can view at the touch of their remote.

“It’s going to create a system for bandwidth to open up for more HD channels and it’s going to prepare us for the services we’re going to be introducing, Start Over and Look Back,” said Darryl Ryan, a Time Warner Cable spokesman.

Exactly when? Ryan doesn’t know or he won’t say. He’ll only say, “It’s still in development and should be coming very very soon.” But when we first learned that the features were coming, Time Warner gave us a mid-2009 launch date (strum fingers repeatedly).

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More HD channels coming to cable TV, TiVo users impacted

July 3rd, 2009, 7:58 am by

Switched video technology could make TiVos useless they get an adapter.

Sooner than later, Orange County cable TV customers may notice a lot more high-definition channels.

This is not an easy task, by the way. Cable providers have struggled to offer more HD channels because their aging systems are near capacity.  Now,  thanks to new technology called switched digital video, they have figured out how to get more room: Stop broadcasting every single channel 24/7.

By turning some of the least popular channels into on-demand channels, cable companies can use that newly opened space to squeeze in more HD channels. Channels that do go switched digital are still accessible. But there may be a slight delay after turning to that channel, as the cable box sends the request back to the main station. The delay should be just a split second and unnoticeable to viewers, the cable companies say.

But one reader from Yorba Linda, who uses a CableCARD and TiVo to watch cable TV, alerted me that some switching might be going on in his neighborhood. He woke up one day to find very few channels showing up on his TV — Food TV yes, but not the HD version; no Bravo and absolutely no HBO. A  Time Warner customer service representative mentioned to him the cable provider was switching to this new technology.

I checked with both local cable companies — Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications — and both plan to implement this technology. But Time Warner has not yet. Cox, however, is testing it out in Orange County. Read the rest of this entry »

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Time Warner Cable’s new features finally coming to O.C.

October 28th, 2008, 7:21 am by

This is the second in a 3-part series of posts. Read the first at “Time Warner still cleaning up cable merger mess in O.C.” and third part at “Time Warner’s new HD channels and why Costa Mesa, Tustin get them first.“

A meeting with the president of Orange County’s Time Warner Cable operation resulted in more than just a tour for myself and learning why Time Warner prices are all over the O.C. map. 

Fred Stefany told me about these new features that are coming soon to Orange County residents:

Faster Internet - High-speed Internet users will see an increase in speeds, from 6 megabits per second to 10 Mbps by June 2009.

PowerBoost - Similar to what Cox already offers its customers, PowerBoost takes underutilized Internet capacity and gives high-speed Internet customers an extra burst of speed when they need it like when they’re downloading files. Speeds will be up to 22 megabits per second. Read the rest of this entry »

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Time Warner Cable plans more channels in O.C. despite fines

October 17th, 2008, 4:30 am by

A federal agency wants to fine Time Warner Cable for withholding some channels to certain customers. But here in Orange County, the local cable service is moving ahead with plans to do just that.

Next year, the local Time Warner Cable wants to take its 50 least-watched channels, such as some international channels, and turn them into an on-demand service. That, in turn, opens up room to offer channels that more people want — such as HD versions of popular channels. The technology is called ‘Switched Digital.”

But in order to access those channels, subscribers would need a piece of equipment that can communicate back to the cable company and request the programs. In Hawaii, where the two Time Warner offices were cited, subscribers with a non company-issued digital video recorder or a cable card, could not access those channels because those are one-way communication devices.  The FCC said that the cable companies should have sought a waiver to the rule, according to MultiChannel News.

According to a report by Dow Jones news service, the FCC ordered $40,000 and $20,000 fines against Time Warner in Hawaii and Cox in Virginia, respectively, for “preventing some subscribers from receiving certain channels.” Plus the cable companies needed to refund customers for the lost channels and any equipment they had to buy to access them.

The FCC also noted that the number of customers affected was a very small percentage of all subscribers. But, the FCC added, “we consider the consumer harm resulting from actions here, which frustrate the commission’s broader goal of achieving a competitive navigation device market, to be significant,” according to the report.

Fred Stefany, president of O.C.’s Time Warner Cable operations, said that his company doesn’t agree with the FCC’s action.

“It was more related to properly notifying (the FCC) what we are doing,” Stefany said.  

“So we are moving full speed ahead (in Orange County) and in fact, as I mentioned we have it deployed in many systems already,” he added.

No Time Warner DVR is needed for the ‘Switch’ service. But customers will need one of the company’s digital boxes.

“A customer simply tunes to the channel they want to watch.  The box sends a signal to initiate the channel and the video starts.  You do not go to ‘On-Demand’ or anything special.  It will be totally invisible to the customer.  They will never be able to tell if it’s a ‘switched channel’ or a regular one,” he said.

Consumers who do watch those other channels would be none the wiser because when they flip to them, the broadcast works just as before — maybe with a minor delay. 

Send me your Time Warner stories, complaints and comments. I am now tracking local cable companies and other TV services on this blog. Bookmark this blog

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