View Full Version : Why did Cable Cards not catch on?
looney2ns
12-17-08, 08:38 PM
Subject says it.
Very hard to find a new TV with cable card option.
Sirshagg
12-17-08, 08:42 PM
Cable companies don't want them and make them using them as difficult as possible.
If I had to guess:
- No channel guide that you'd get with a box
- No two-way communications so no way to order pay per views or on demand content
- Horror stories about getting them to work in the first place
- Some cable companies not making it very attractive price wise by not making the price difference between the card and digital box large enough
- Adding to the finger pointing issue when trying to fix problems (it's your set causing the problem, not our card or backend systems)
I think it's true that cable companies were very reluctant to move to cable cards. However, the argument for scarcity of cable cards doesn't hold up any more. All cable companies are now required to use cable boxes that employ separable security. Which means that if you get a set top box from, say, Comcast, the security for that box can no longer be integrated into the box itself. It has to be removable - which means it has to take a cable card.
A few small cable operators were given a temporary waiver from this requirement - the requirement went into effect on 7/1/07, and some cable companies were given a 1 year waiver for advanced boxes (DVRs and HD STBs) and 2 years for basic SD STBs. As a result, cable cards are very much readily available these days. That's not to say that TVs that accept cable cards are. Why there aren't more of those -- well, I'm not sure.
As for pricing, that's not quite true either. Most cable companies offer cable cards for $1 - $3/month. For example, Verizon (my provider) offers cards for $2.99/month, vs. $9.99/month for an HD STB.
However, the argument for scarcity of cable cards doesn't hold up any more.
The OP didn't say there was a shortage of card but a lack of the feature on new TV.
Steve Mehs
12-17-08, 09:18 PM
In my area a year ago, Cable Cards were $2.70 and Digital Terminal/Remotes were $7.95, SD or HD it makes no difference. Then Cable Cards increased to$3.10 and the Digital STBs went down to $7.45. I think the whole Cable Card idea is stupid. Both of the TVs in the house have Cable Card slots, no thanks, I couldn't imagine not having DVR functionality.
BattleZone
12-17-08, 09:45 PM
Subject says it.
Very hard to find a new TV with cable card option.
Three simple letters:
D V R. No one watches live TV anymore, and DVRs mean a separate box anyway.
The point of CableCard TVs was not to have a box. These days, everyone already has 3+ boxes hooked to their TV (DVR, DVD/BluRay, Video Game, etc.), so what's the point?
Had CableCard come out in 1980, they'd have been widely used.
Idea: make it so folks don't need a STB put it in the TV, using a card thingy.
Yeah, that caught on so well.
The OP didn't say there was a shortage of card but a lack of the feature on new TV.
Actually, I was replying to your post. One item you put in said that cable companies were making the cards scarce (that's how I read it). Well, pricing them so that they don't move. If there are few cards out there there will be little demand for TVs that can provide them. I read your post as saying that the cable companies were overcharging for the cards, which means that few would be out there. My point is that cable companies are now required to use them for all STBs that they offer (barring the small outfits that got that waiver). If they price them in line with their STBs they're being idiotic (since the STBs themselve have to contain a cable card), and probably acting illegally (at the very least they'd be begging for the FCC to get even MORE involved in this whole mess if they really did price them that way - they don't).
In my area a year ago, Cable Cards were $2.70 and Digital Terminal/Remotes were $7.95, SD or HD it makes no difference. Then Cable Cards increased to$3.10 and the Digital STBs went down to $7.45. I think the whole Cable Card idea is stupid. Both of the TVs in the house have Cable Card slots, no thanks, I couldn't imagine not having DVR functionality.
I don't have a DVR on ALL my TVs. That would be a waste for me. My main TV has a multi-room DVR, which can feed one of my other TVs (the third TV isn't part of that set-up for reasons I won't bother to get into here). That third TV isn't used much. To pay the extra for DVR service on it would really be a waste for me. The ONLY reason I even use that TV at all is because Verizon, when they were going all digital, offered all customers with analog connections a free digital adpater (pared down cable box), which I took and hooked it up to that TV.
I can see lots of people wanting to hook up that second or third TV and not wanting to pay the extra money for a set top box or a DVR.
Actually, the new 2 way cards are appearing in TVs now. I think they call it Tru2Way or something. They did leave the old slots of for a year or so once the 2 way cards were being developed.
Actually, I was replying to your post. One item you put in said that cable companies were making the cards scarce (that's how I read it). Well, pricing them so that they don't move. If there are few cards out there there will be little demand for TVs that can provide them. I read your post as saying that the cable companies were overcharging for the cards, which means that few would be out there. My point is that cable companies are now required to use them for all STBs that they offer (barring the small outfits that got that waiver). If they price them in line with their STBs they're being idiotic (since the STBs themselve have to contain a cable card), and probably acting illegally (at the very least they'd be begging for the FCC to get even MORE involved in this whole mess if they really did price them that way - they don't).
OK, but my point was on price, didn't mean to say they were in short supply. On the price, all I know is a few years ago when they first started to come out the Comcast system I was on was only knocking off a couple bucks between the price of the card vs. a STB. With the number of features that you lost by not having the box didn't make the cost savings worth it. If that difference is no longer true fine, just posting what I saw was the problems IMHO.
Down here in Charlotte, Time Warner charges $1.75 a month for cable cards. I have two high definition TiVo DVR's with cable cards - a Series 3 with two single stream cards and an TiVo HD with a multistream card (both with lifetime subscriptions). I find them both to be superior to my Time Warner Scientific Atlanta 8300HD DVR, which rents for $9.95 a month.
The downside of having cable cards as I see it: the cable company requires a service call (truck roll) and installation of the card by their technicians, who for the most part are subcontractors and are not familiar with the cards. The cards they bring with them often do not have current firmware, and require a firmware download in order to get them to work. Further, Scientific Atlanta cable cards are flaky at best. The tech may have to try several before they work.
I think TV manufacturers backed away from cable cards because they added cost to TV sets, and cable companies promoted set top boxes and DVR's as a solution. Of course, cable cards are of no use whatsoever if you have satellite servide.
looney2ns
12-19-08, 09:16 PM
Thanks everyone. I was just curious be cause I had been wanting a new HD TV in a location where I did not want an STB. And found that most flatpanels do not have CC capabilities.
My cable provider only charges $1.95 per month for a CC vs $11.95 for an STB.
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