I saw a commercial for the Optimum app talking about the features that come along with it including the new guide..It says towards the end "Look for these new features coming to more screens in the coming months." Does this mean the cable boxes will receive the software upgrade or just other smart devices?
Just chatted with a Representative and they said, "there will be a complete overhaul of the whole User Interface and the way customers use their set top box."
Cablevision stated the guide will be html5 based and mostly cloud hosted. So that they can update things without sending out a new firmware to the box.
I see cablevision eventually not needing boxes at all.
they really should split the digital guide into 2 channels, they wait is way too long to see what's on, there are too many crap channels to wade through!.
Cablevision Already showed an app for samsung tvs and lg tvs that allows you to receive the tv channels and guide without a box.
Interesting, since I'm considering buying a Samsung TV. But note that nowhere does it say the app will be free. Cablevision could very well charge $7/month for the app.
Cablevision takes in too much money from STB rental fees to give up that revenue stream. We're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars per year.
I am gathering you have no idea how much each box costs do you?
example say each samsung box costs $200. You pay $7 a month towards cablevision. It will take cablevision 2.5 years to get the total costs of the box back from you. Thats NOT counting if you have to switch that box for another one. I would think dvrs are more expensive and excess hdds in storage to fix them are more also.
cablevision does NOT make anything from stb's If they were they would not be trying their hardest to get rid of them.
Their customer equipment on the balance sheet is $2.3 Billion. While some of that will be Modems and routers, I suspect at least 60-70% is set top boxes. According to the 10K Customer equipment is depreciated over a 2-5 year basis( useful life).
So eliminating boxes would give them a loss of over $1.2-1.6 Billion since they would need to write off those assets. With about 3 Mill homes having video @ 7*12 =$84/year/box it seems likely they get over 300M in revenue from boxes/year. If you assume an average of 2 boxes/home it would be around $500Mill in revenue. Still IF the cost of a box is around $250-300 they do make money on the boxes, though I suspect they are do not get as high a return as some people think. Of course a DVR is probably a lot more expensive but of course that adds $120/month to the revenue stream.
But note that nowhere does it say the app will be free. Cablevision could very well charge $7/month for the app.
Then again they only charge $2 for a CableCard which they have to purchase. I suspect they could charge $1/TV to authorize and make a good return. Since the smart TVs would slowly reduce the number of boxes over time they would not need a large write off, they could simply stop buying new boxes and distribute the old ones where needed.
But note that nowhere does it say the app will be free. Cablevision could very well charge $7/month for the app.
Then again they only charge $2 for a CableCard which they have to purchase. I suspect they could charge $1/TV to authorize and make a good return. Since the smart TVs would slowly reduce the number of boxes over time they would not need a large write off, they could simply stop buying new boxes and distribute the old ones where needed.
they don't sell either the boxes or the cable cards, so they must be making something worthwhile to just rent them.
I suspect they do not sell them since they want more control over what boxes can access their network. This helps control theft of service which is a major concern for a company that has a product that can easily be stolen without control. If it were simply a matter of return they could make you buy them, insist you buy the device from them, and price it high enough to make the return they wanted.
I suspect they do not sell them since they want more control over what boxes can access their network. This helps control theft of service which is a major concern for a company that has a product that can easily be stolen without control. If it were simply a matter of return they could make you buy them, insist you buy the device from them, and price it high enough to make the return they wanted.
NOPE, that's not true at all. the boxes can be bought, but cablevision won't activate them. if they could be activated without cablevision knowing, then there's no point in not selling them!. the point is whether you own a box sold by cablevision or someone else, the same things can be done with either box, so there's no point in not selling them, unless the rental fee is taken into account!. they have control over what boxes can access their network by allowing only certain brands/models access, and if they need to change that, then they can require new boxes to be bought/rented.
If they sold the boxes and allowed you to use the service with your own box the activation process would be very different and I suspect it might allow easier theft. But course as your name and past posts indicate "you know". So I won't spend any more time arguing.
Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) says it will launch an advanced interactive program guide called Onyx during the fourth quarter that CEO Jim Dolan compared to the interfaces used by Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) and other Internet video providers.
The new guide looks similar to the guides Cablevision offers subscribers that have downloaded the Optimum apps developed to deliver live and on-demand programming to subscribers using tablet computers and laptops to watch TV, Dolan said.
"The Onyx guide is a significant change in the customer experience. I would liken it to some of the Internet video providers that are out there like Netflix, but it's actually much superior to that," Dolan told analysts on Cablevision's second quarter earnings call Tuesday.