For years cable companies have been tinkering with new targeted ad technology that can send different ads to different households watching the same service -- based entirely on personal and regional data. While that sounds a little spooky to some, efforts on this front haven't been particularly easy for many carriers, and the cable industry's joint ad effort Canoe has seen several delays. The Wall Street Journal this week profiles some of these new ad systems, noting that companies like Cablevision are making advances on their own after Canoe stumbled. The Journal notes one trial done with the U.S. Army that targeted households based on age and ethnicity:Cablevision's system can even beam different ads to different set tops in the same house watching the same program, depending on what has been watched on each individual set top. correction: Cablevision tells us the furthest down they drill is to the household level for tailored ads. "Addressable advertising is done at the household level and utilizes general characteristics such as household demographics and geography implemented on an anonymous basis," the company tells us, adding that Cablevision does not use viewership data.

It's not clear what happens as Cablevision makes their planned shift away from physical set tops to remote DVR storage. While most cable companies are looking at Internet advertising lustfully they'll probably need to tread carefully, given the fallout that struck companies like NebuAD for their behavioral ad systems. NebuAD's efforts failed spectacularly because the systems were implemented not only without notifying users, but in potential violation of both privacy and wiretap laws.

Users in this thread in our Cablevision forum note that Cablevision customers can opt out of this service via the privacy portion of Cablevision's online portal.