When Is a TV Not a TV?

Late last month you may have received information from Time Warner Cable about a new service being offered to area subscribers. The service allows individuals who have an Apple iPad to watch some TV programs carried on the Time Warner system. The company and other cable TV companies around the country are offering a new App that uses your iPad and home wifi to connect with your cable. Once connected, the iPad serves as a portable TV and can be used anywhere in the house without wires or other special connections.

The service was praised by many media pundits who applauded the seamless merger of the computer and the TV. This convergence has been the “holy grail” of proponents of bringing the Internet and traditional TV to a variety of screens large and small, fixed and portable. iPad users too were happy to get a free app that made watching TV more convenient.

Not everyone was so happy. Faster than it took to download the new App several program service providers were yelling foul. Several cable networks like Discovery, Fox and Viacom argued that their programming was licensed to Time Warner for distribution to TV sets not streamed to computers. They demanded that Time Warner remove their programming from the list of offerings for iPad viewing.

Welcome to the new TV landscape where ultimately the definition of a TV set will be a critical factor in your ability to watch your favorite shows. As you may expect the brouhaha centers around money. The program distributors are concerned that if viewers watch their programming on any device other than a traditional TV they will not be counted in the Nielsen surveys and as such the advertising revenue may suffer. Nielsen has been struggling to compile reliable information about TV viewing as more and more of us are using computers, smart phones and other digital devices to view TV programs. The proliferation of non traditional non real time viewing has begun to fragment audiences and the future only promises to further change viewing patterns.

TV Program producers are scrambling to keep from repeating the revolution experienced by music producers and distributors. They wish to hold on to their business as usual lucrative industry. My bet is that they are swimming against the tide and just as online music distribution has made CDs as out of date as rotary phones, the blurring of the differences between the computer screen and TV screen will make the traditional TV programming business a much different enterprise moving toward a pay per view model from the current advertising supported industry.

When Is a TV Not a TV?

Late last month you may have received information from Time Warner Cable about a new service being offered to area subscribers. The service allows individuals who have an Apple iPad to watch some TV programs carried on the Time Warner system. The company and other cable TV companies around the country are offering a new App that uses your iPad and home wifi to connect with your cable. Once connected, the iPad serves as a portable TV and can be used anywhere in the house without wires or other special connections.

The service was praised by many media pundits who applauded the seamless merger of the computer and the TV. This convergence has been the “holy grail” of proponents of bringing the Internet and traditional TV to a variety of screens large and small, fixed and portable. iPad users too were happy to get a free app that made watching TV more convenient.

Not everyone was so happy. Faster than it took to download the new App several program service providers were yelling foul. Several cable networks like Discovery, Fox and Viacom argued that their programming was licensed to Time Warner for distribution to TV sets not streamed to computers. They demanded that Time Warner remove their programming from the list of offerings for iPad viewing.

Welcome to the new TV landscape where ultimately the definition of a TV set will be a critical factor in your ability to watch your favorite shows. As you may expect the brouhaha centers around money. The program distributors are concerned that if viewers watch their programming on any device other than a traditional TV they will not be counted in the Nielsen surveys and as such the advertising revenue may suffer. Nielsen has been struggling to compile reliable information about TV viewing as more and more of us are using computers, smart phones and other digital devices to view TV programs. The proliferation of non traditional non real time viewing has begun to fragment audiences and the future only promises to further change viewing patterns.

TV Program producers are scrambling to keep from repeating the revolution experienced by music producers and distributors. They wish to hold on to their business as usual lucrative industry. My bet is that they are swimming against the tide and just as online music distribution has made CDs as out of date as rotary phones, the blurring of the differences between the computer screen and TV screen will make the traditional TV programming business a much different enterprise moving toward a pay per view model from the current advertising supported industry.

All Phone Services Can Fail

Well, it didn’t take Cincinnati Bell long to call attention to the fact that Time Warner’s Digital Phone service was more prone to failure than good old Ma Bell’s hard wired service. While both services require some sort of wire either on poles or underground, digital phone service provided by a cable company like Time Warner requires each household to have electric power in order for the system to work. While Cincinnati Bell’s service also requires electric power, the power is provided by the phone company.

What the Cincinnati Bell advertisement didn’t mention is that during the recent wind storm both services had problems with downed lines. It makes little difference if you don’t have electricity if the wire connecting you to the phone system goes down. Standard “Ma Bell” phone systems or cable delivered services can be put out of service by a big tree falling across the wires or wind felling utility poles.

Many people found out the hard way that even if they had a regular Cincinnati Bell line their phone did not work. Many of the new phones used in homes have tons of features like caller ID, call holding, integrated answering machines and more. Many of these new phones require electric power in order to work. Many of us also have cordless phones. These too need electricity to work.

If you maintain Cincinnati Bell service, it is a good idea to have at least one “old fashion” phone that has a cord which plugs into the telephone jack and requires no other source of power. You can get one for about 15 bucks at most discount stores. Sometimes simpler is better.

I heard from some readers that they lost cell service during the recent wind storm. I did not have any problem with my Verizon service but it understandable how there could have been some interruptions. Cell towers can be buffeted by the wind, and while most have back up power, these back up systems can fail. Also many of the cell towers are interconnected with line-of-sight microwave radio systems. High winds can cause the dishes to go out of alignment thus making connection to the telephone network difficult or impossible. Some cell towers use the same hard wired circuits that you use in your home. Again, if the lines are down they don’t work.

Those with cell phones found that they had no way to charge the battery. Remember, you can use your car to charge up the battery and since the chargers take so little current, you won’t harm a good car battery even if the car is not running.

Internet access is another casualty of power failures and downed wires. Even if you use Cincinnati Bells DSL service, you need to have a DSL modem in your house and that requires electricity. Same for Time Warner’s Road Runner. About the only Internet service that can work with power out is a lap top running one of the Internet services provided by the cell phone companies.

The good news is that the recent storm was a once in a 100 year phenomenon. We are fortunate that our phones, internet and TV really do work most of the time no matter if they are delivered by Ma Bell, Time Warner or though the air.

All Phone Services Can Fail

Well, it didn’t take Cincinnati Bell long to call attention to the fact that Time Warner’s Digital Phone service was more prone to failure than good old Ma Bell’s hard wired service. While both services require some sort of wire either on poles or underground, digital phone service provided by a cable company like Time Warner requires each household to have electric power in order for the system to work. While Cincinnati Bell’s service also requires electric power, the power is provided by the phone company.

What the Cincinnati Bell advertisement didn’t mention is that during the recent wind storm both services had problems with downed lines. It makes little difference if you don’t have electricity if the wire connecting you to the phone system goes down. Standard “Ma Bell” phone systems or cable delivered services can be put out of service by a big tree falling across the wires or wind felling utility poles.

Many people found out the hard way that even if they had a regular Cincinnati Bell line their phone did not work. Many of the new phones used in homes have tons of features like caller ID, call holding, integrated answering machines and more. Many of these new phones require electric power in order to work. Many of us also have cordless phones. These too need electricity to work.

If you maintain Cincinnati Bell service, it is a good idea to have at least one “old fashion” phone that has a cord which plugs into the telephone jack and requires no other source of power. You can get one for about 15 bucks at most discount stores. Sometimes simpler is better.

I heard from some readers that they lost cell service during the recent wind storm. I did not have any problem with my Verizon service but it understandable how there could have been some interruptions. Cell towers can be buffeted by the wind, and while most have back up power, these back up systems can fail. Also many of the cell towers are interconnected with line-of-sight microwave radio systems. High winds can cause the dishes to go out of alignment thus making connection to the telephone network difficult or impossible. Some cell towers use the same hard wired circuits that you use in your home. Again, if the lines are down they don’t work.

Those with cell phones found that they had no way to charge the battery. Remember, you can use your car to charge up the battery and since the chargers take so little current, you won’t harm a good car battery even if the car is not running.

Internet access is another casualty of power failures and downed wires. Even if you use Cincinnati Bells DSL service, you need to have a DSL modem in your house and that requires electricity. Same for Time Warner’s Road Runner. About the only Internet service that can work with power out is a lap top running one of the Internet services provided by the cell phone companies.

The good news is that the recent storm was a once in a 100 year phenomenon. We are fortunate that our phones, internet and TV really do work most of the time no matter if they are delivered by Ma Bell, Time Warner or though the air.

It's Getting Crowded on the Info Super Highway

The Internet Super Highway is becoming more like I-75 at rush hour than the Autobahn on a clear sunny day. As more and more of us graduate from using the Internet for simple email exchange and occasional Google® searches to downloading music, TV programs, and even full length movies in high definition, the Internet connections serving our neighborhood as well as the more robust Internet backbone itself are showing signs of congestion.

Email files consume very little “space” on the Internet as the number of bits and bytes being sent or received is miniscule. More important is that email messages do not need to be sent all at once. Even though you may think that all your precious words are sent in one email “envelope,” in reality even the shortest email message is broken up into tiny packets. Each packet travels separately and is reconnected with all the others once they all reach the final destination. Since this all happens at the speed of light you most likely haven’t noticed nor should you care that you email is being dissected.

On the other hand, music or video require very large files. A file containing one minute of good quality video is equivalent to a file containing hundreds or even thousands of emails. If you want to watch these videos on line in real time rather than downloading them and watching at another time, the Internet circuits are taxed even more.

This phenomenon is not lost on the major providers of Internet services, or ISPs as they are called. Comcast and Time Warner have been experimenting with several options. One idea is to charge each user based on their actual use. Currently most of us pay a set monthly charge based on the speed of the connection. We pay the same no matter if we send ten emails a month or if we are on line 24/7 watching videos and downloading music.

Much more controversial is the practice of some ISPs to actually block some online services that use a great deal of bandwidth. Recently Kevin Martin, FCC Chairman, warned Comcast to cease its practice of limiting access to some Comcast Internet subscribers to BitTorrent®, a video sharing service that is a very dependent on free access to the Internet.

Many of the large ISPs and networking organizations have experienced tremendous growth and customer demand. It was recently reported by AT&T, one of the largest broadband services, that traffic on the AT&T network has doubled over the past two years and is on a trajectory of doubling again within less than two years.

In the future your access to the Internet may well be metered like other “utilities.” Those who use more of the bandwidth, especially in peak hours will be charged more than the occasional email user. With more and more of use relying on the Internet for bill paying, banking and shopping, the Internet may become more of a toll road than a freeway.

It's Getting Crowded on the Info Super Highway

The Internet Super Highway is becoming more like I-75 at rush hour than the Autobahn on a clear sunny day. As more and more of us graduate from using the Internet for simple email exchange and occasional Google® searches to downloading music, TV programs, and even full length movies in high definition, the Internet connections serving our neighborhood as well as the more robust Internet backbone itself are showing signs of congestion.

Email files consume very little “space” on the Internet as the number of bits and bytes being sent or received is miniscule. More important is that email messages do not need to be sent all at once. Even though you may think that all your precious words are sent in one email “envelope,” in reality even the shortest email message is broken up into tiny packets. Each packet travels separately and is reconnected with all the others once they all reach the final destination. Since this all happens at the speed of light you most likely haven’t noticed nor should you care that you email is being dissected.

On the other hand, music or video require very large files. A file containing one minute of good quality video is equivalent to a file containing hundreds or even thousands of emails. If you want to watch these videos on line in real time rather than downloading them and watching at another time, the Internet circuits are taxed even more.

This phenomenon is not lost on the major providers of Internet services, or ISPs as they are called. Comcast and Time Warner have been experimenting with several options. One idea is to charge each user based on their actual use. Currently most of us pay a set monthly charge based on the speed of the connection. We pay the same no matter if we send ten emails a month or if we are on line 24/7 watching videos and downloading music.

Much more controversial is the practice of some ISPs to actually block some online services that use a great deal of bandwidth. Recently Kevin Martin, FCC Chairman, warned Comcast to cease its practice of limiting access to some Comcast Internet subscribers to BitTorrent®, a video sharing service that is a very dependent on free access to the Internet.

Many of the large ISPs and networking organizations have experienced tremendous growth and customer demand. It was recently reported by AT&T, one of the largest broadband services, that traffic on the AT&T network has doubled over the past two years and is on a trajectory of doubling again within less than two years.

In the future your access to the Internet may well be metered like other “utilities.” Those who use more of the bandwidth, especially in peak hours will be charged more than the occasional email user. With more and more of use relying on the Internet for bill paying, banking and shopping, the Internet may become more of a toll road than a freeway.

Cable or Satellite, how to choose

I got a call from my sister-in-law the other day asking for some advice relating to her consideration of switching from a satellite TV provider to cable. It seems that the cable guys were offering some good discounts and my sister-in-law, like many of us, is always open to a good deal.

Is getting TV from a cable provider better than getting it form a satellite service?

Seems like a simple question, but I’m not sure I can say one is better or even cheaper since it will be different depending on what programming you want and how you use TV.

The national programming offered by both cable and satellite providers is about the same. For sure, there are some niche offerings like the Big 10 Network and the NFL Network that have yet to make it to many cable systems. But if you are looking for the programming mainstays like ESPN, The Weather Channel, HGTV, CNN, The History Channel, Discovery and the like, you will find them both on cable and satellite services. The same holds true for the major movie packages from Showtime and HBO.

The big difference that you will find between cable and satellite TV is how they handle the local broadcast channels, i.e. Ch 5, 9,12, 14,19, 48 and 64. For example, Dish Network® does offer the analog over the air broadcasts of the local stations for an extra monthly fee of about $6.00 DirecTv includes these channels in program packages so the extra amount charged is hard to calculate. Neither offer all the new local digital channels, nor do they offer any of the digital multicast channels provided by local broadcasters. For example, WLWT Digital has a companion weather service that you can watch with a digital TV or on digital cable. You will not find that channel on either of the satellite services. My station, CET, has a High Definition service and the PBS World service. You will not get these on the on DirecTv® or Dish Network® satellite services.

Some of the satellite services will provide an antenna so you can receive the digital over-the-air channels over the air. What a concept!

Cable does provide all the local analog channels in the Basic Package and the digital channels in the Digital Cable Tier. The High Definition services require a special set top box, but that is currently provided at no extra cost by Time Warner to their Digital Cable subscribers.

Cable companies are also required to carry other Public, Educational and Government Access channels. Satellite services are not mandated to do so. Many in our community might watch the Harrison City Council Meetings or the Crosby Twp Trustee meetings. You’ll find them on cable but not on satellite.

When you are making your comparison keep in mind the equipment that will be provided. Many of the satellite set top boxes can “feed” two different TVs located in different parts of the house. Each TV can be tuned to a different channel. On the other hand, a cable box is dedicated to a single TV. So if you have multiple TVs and you want cable on all of them, it will require a set top box for each TV. There are exceptions. Some cable operators offer a service that does not use a set top box. The cable is connected directly to a cable-ready TV. In those cases, you can have multiple TVs watching different channels. You will not get ALL the channels on any of the TVs since the full cable service requires a set top box.

Once you decide what it important to you, then you can calculate the best price. Now, where did that remote go?

Cable or Satellite, how to choose

I got a call from my sister-in-law the other day asking for some advice relating to her consideration of switching from a satellite TV provider to cable. It seems that the cable guys were offering some good discounts and my sister-in-law, like many of us, is always open to a good deal.

Is getting TV from a cable provider better than getting it form a satellite service?

Seems like a simple question, but I’m not sure I can say one is better or even cheaper since it will be different depending on what programming you want and how you use TV.

The national programming offered by both cable and satellite providers is about the same. For sure, there are some niche offerings like the Big 10 Network and the NFL Network that have yet to make it to many cable systems. But if you are looking for the programming mainstays like ESPN, The Weather Channel, HGTV, CNN, The History Channel, Discovery and the like, you will find them both on cable and satellite services. The same holds true for the major movie packages from Showtime and HBO.

The big difference that you will find between cable and satellite TV is how they handle the local broadcast channels, i.e. Ch 5, 9,12, 14,19, 48 and 64. For example, Dish Network® does offer the analog over the air broadcasts of the local stations for an extra monthly fee of about $6.00 DirecTv includes these channels in program packages so the extra amount charged is hard to calculate. Neither offer all the new local digital channels, nor do they offer any of the digital multicast channels provided by local broadcasters. For example, WLWT Digital has a companion weather service that you can watch with a digital TV or on digital cable. You will not find that channel on either of the satellite services. My station, CET, has a High Definition service and the PBS World service. You will not get these on the on DirecTv® or Dish Network® satellite services.

Some of the satellite services will provide an antenna so you can receive the digital over-the-air channels over the air. What a concept!

Cable does provide all the local analog channels in the Basic Package and the digital channels in the Digital Cable Tier. The High Definition services require a special set top box, but that is currently provided at no extra cost by Time Warner to their Digital Cable subscribers.

Cable companies are also required to carry other Public, Educational and Government Access channels. Satellite services are not mandated to do so. Many in our community might watch the Harrison City Council Meetings or the Crosby Twp Trustee meetings. You’ll find them on cable but not on satellite.

When you are making your comparison keep in mind the equipment that will be provided. Many of the satellite set top boxes can “feed” two different TVs located in different parts of the house. Each TV can be tuned to a different channel. On the other hand, a cable box is dedicated to a single TV. So if you have multiple TVs and you want cable on all of them, it will require a set top box for each TV. There are exceptions. Some cable operators offer a service that does not use a set top box. The cable is connected directly to a cable-ready TV. In those cases, you can have multiple TVs watching different channels. You will not get ALL the channels on any of the TVs since the full cable service requires a set top box.

Once you decide what it important to you, then you can calculate the best price. Now, where did that remote go?