Is HDTV Compression Damaging Picture Quality?

Do your HDTV programs look as good as they should? If not, you may be seeing the results of overcompression. A growing number of viewers and experts are claiming that increased use of compression--technology that downsizes huge high-definition video streams for eventual reconstitution on your screen--is responsible for a drop in quality.

Such charges--aimed mostly at the two biggest cable providers, Comcast and Time Warner--have been echoing around the blogosphere in the wake of reports about new compression algorithms. Contributing to the debate: An AVS Forum member's tests showed that at least ten HD networks were more compressed on Comcast than on Verizon's fiber-optic-cable-based FiOS service.

While service providers insist that quality remains a high priority, some experts say competition has made channel quantity, not quality, the top priority.

It's no secret that most digital TV is compressed and decompressed--in some cases several times--not just by cable or satellite services and over-the-air broadcasters but also by the video cameras that create the programs and the network satellite systems that deliver them to distributors. Compression happens, too, in trucks, control rooms, cable headends, and other waystations along the signal's path to your screen. The telltale signs of overcompression include tiling, little colored blocks, and "mosquito noise," which looks like flaring fireflies. The crispness of the picture can suffer, too.
Quantity vs. Quality

Compressing huge HDTV video streams, however, allows carriers to deliver more of them. "Everyone's really fighting the same issue--limited bandwidth--[but] their offerings are more attractive if they give more channels," says Peter Symes, director of standards and engineering for the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. "There are big arguments in the broadcasting community about whether you should use virtually the whole of the 19.2 megabits you get for a single HD channel to deliver really good HD, or whether by using other standards or more compression you can get away with a high-definition [signal] and one or two standard-definition [signals] or maybe sell part of it for data services."

Currently, quality is "minor to a vast majority of the viewing public, because the vast majority...doesn't have very big TV screens," HDTV consultant Peter Putman notes.

But those viewers who do are starting to notice, including AVS Forum member Ken Fowler of Arlington, Virginia, a self-described audio-video enthusiast who posted the results of his Comcast-FiOS comparison.

Fowler had dropped Comcast for FiOS, but renewed his Comcast service (while retaining FiOS) in order to get Washington Nationals games in HD, and he began noticing quality differences between the two services. Some of the Comcast channels, he says, "didn't have the same pop, the same level of contrast, and there was a lot more blurring during movement."

So Fowler began recording the same shows on both FiOS and Comcast with his TiVo; he then downloaded the files to a computer and calculated the bitrates based on file size. The differences ran from just 0.7 percent more compression on Comcast for HBO HD to a whopping 38.5 percent for Discovery HD Theater.
More-Efficient Compression?

Comcast acknowledges that it recently implemented additional compression of selected HD networks, but contends that its improved compression technology allows it to transmit three channels in the same bandwidth in which two were transmitted previously, without a loss of quality. Comcast's spokesperson adds that many comments about Fowler's AVS Forum post recognize that "our ongoing tweaking, if you will, and adjustments" are improving image quality.

Comcast isn't alone in looking to squeeze more HD into its cables. A Time Warner Cable spokesperson says that company is testing new increased-compression technology as well. On the satellite side, DirecTV and Dish Network are switching to a "more advanced compression algorithm," Putman says. Verizon FiOS, however, applies no additional compression to the network signals that it receives, a spokesperson says.

The HD broadcast format that a network uses can make a difference in the compression's impact. ABC and Fox are among those that use a progressive-scan format (720p), which Putman and other experts say tolerates compression slightly better than the interlaced (1080i) format used by CBS, NBC, PBS, and others.
Blu-ray Is the Benchmark

For consumers, the best HD experience will be with Blu-ray Disc content on a player hooked up to a display with an HDMI connector, which transmits uncompressed digital streams. "That's going to be the benchmark," says Symes.

If you're shopping for an HD service, Symes adds, "it's fairly a no-brainer: If you have FiOS or [AT&T's] U-Verse available, that's probably the way to go." Beyond that, so much local variability exists among competing cable and satellite services, he says, that the best idea is to ask friends in your area about their satisfaction levels.

But if you have an HD picture quality problem that you think is the result of overcompression, the best thing to do is to call your provider. Symes and Putman agree that overcompression and lowered quality will become an industry issue only when buyers who trade up to the biggest, highest-resolution screens notice and complain.

yahoo.com

Verizon’s FiOS

Verizon’s FiOS TV had 943k subscribers at the end of 2007, making it the third largest IPTV provider after France Telecom and PCCW. IPTV has been a part of Verizon FiOS TV service since its launch in 2005. FiOS TV utilizes a hybrid QAM / IP platform that uses QAM RF to deliver broadcast channel programming and IPTV to deliver video on-demand content. The middleware is largely proprietary with certain elements inherited from Microsoft. The set top box is sourced from Motorola.

An innovate aspect of Verizon’s FiOS TV service is the two-part realization of the whole-home media concept, something that no other (major) IPTV provider or MSO currently offers. Part one is “Home Media DVR” service, a multi-room DVR solution that is delivered by the IP-based FiOS in-home LAN and its IP-enabled STBs. It allows a customer to view different DVR-stored programs on up to three STB-connected TVs (DVR STB + 2 remote terminal STBs) simultaneously in their home with trick-play control and the ability to pause a program in one room and resume watching it in another room. Currently this service delivers SD streams to the two remote terminal STBs but Verizon has disclosed its near-term plans to add HD streaming to Home Media DVR in 1H08.

Part Two is “Media Manager” a software application bundled (at no additional charge) with Home Media DVR. This application allows users to enjoy photo and music files stored on LAN-connected computers on their STB-connected TV, audio system or home theater.

While Verizon chose to initially launch FiOS TV using a hybrid QAM / IPTV platform, the company has stated that its long-term intention is to migrate to an all-IPTV platform in the future.

Verizon's FiOS Internet and TV service has the potential to be a threat to cable broadband service providers. The main appeal of FiOS is a fiber optic line directly to the home. Mid-tier service produces 15 Mbps download speeds. The rub: Installation for Verizon can be pricey for the telecom giant as contractors have to lay a fiber optic conduit directly to the home. Here's the step-by-step installation for ZDNet's Larry Dignan. More on the FiOS experience can be found on Between the Lines. First step (beyond the initial phone call of course) was to install a conduit for the fiber optic line to the home. In my neighborhood, all power and phone lines are buried so laying the line required some digging.

speed test

some photos from ZDNet: Verizon FiOS installation step by step



Each fiber-optic hub serves 12 homes. Each house has a connection once the fiber-optic lines are run through the conduits (orange tubes). These run under the street to my house. I'll be the second house in the 12 homes served by this hub to get FiOS. Each house has its own line.
This is the box that is attached to the house to connect the fiber-optic line with Verizon's central office. This box is made by Tellabs, a telecom equipment maker.
Download speeds thus far hover around 15 mbps with the spike here and there. Speed test conducted at Speakeasy.net.

The Top IPTV Developments of 2007 and IPTV headend solution from Cisco

The Top IPTV Developments of 2007

The year started with a prediction from Bill Gates and ended with major milestones. A look back at the year in IPTV.

At the January 2007 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Bill Gates made a stunning prediction: In five years, people will laugh at the TV they've had up until now. While the statement was met with obvious skepticism, it hinted at things to come. Since digital-video pioneer TiVo brought interactive features to the living room on a mass scale for the first time, consumers have taken control of their viewing experience, and TV will never be the same again. The long-held promise of interactive TV is finally becoming a reality in the U.S., except now it’s the telcos that are in charge rather than the cable companies. Major telcos have been busy rolling out new fiber-optic lines for high-speed, two-way data transmission, taking aim at cable and satellite companies’ entrenched services. Aside from faster speeds and better picture quality, interactive features promise new innovations in advertising and viewing habits.

Take, for example, one of the top stories of 2007 that emerged from January’s Consumer Electronics Show: an IPTV-capable Xbox 360 gaming console, combining interactive DVR (digital-video recorder) and chat functions with Microsoft’s game platform. While the device has yet to emerge, it hints at what’s possible in a future where convergence awaits. The Internet has added a new dimension in which consumers can get their IPTV content, often for free, but it too has struggled. Services such as Joost and Apple TV have been plagued with problems, and the outcome remains to be seen. Nevertheless, the Internet will no doubt play an important role in the years to come.

As noted in Daily IPTV's article on the state of the IPTV market, adoption has taken longer than expected. However, the global market could reach more than 50 million subscribers by 2010, and worldwide IPTV revenues from subscriptions and VOD (video on demand) could reach $12.2 billion by 2011. U.S. market leader Verizon had signed up 500,000 customers for its FiOS IPTV service as of October 2007, with laggard AT&T having signed up 126,000 customers for its U-verse service. These numbers are expected to reach 855,000 and 200,000 by end of Q4 2007, respectively. There has been some struggle over how to name or classify these services, particularly with FiOS’s similarity to cable (although it is an FTTH, or fiber-to-the-home, offering), but their IPTV status is unlikely to change.

What Drives Success

Richard Broughton, an analyst at Screen Digest, explained at length what drives IPTV success around the world. “It really differs from market to market,” he said. “The French services [Freebox, Orange TV and Neuf Box] are primarily free-TV offers. The lack of a high price point is one contributing factor to their success. This, coupled with the marketing from France's extremely competitive and aggressive broadband players, means that services have received maximum exposure to the public. Content is actually fairly evenly distributed across the services here — premium TV is really restricted to the Canal Plus and CanalSat programming packages, which are available on all of the top IPTV operations."

Broughton continued, “Free Telecom [the world’s largest IPTV provider] has managed to muscle its way to the top just through sheer brute investment. The company has taken the unprecedented step of supplying every broadband customer with a TV set-top box [with the latest generation models as HD PVRs (high-definition portable video recorders)] — a massive cost for any company. For Free, this is especially problematic, as customers may not take any further TV packages, making the whole operation work at incredibly low margins. For the time being though, the company is content to continue with this level of investment and as a result will stay on top of the pack for the foreseeable future."

Broughton went on, saying, “For other countries, different strategies have been adopted — Verizon is aimed more at the premium end of the market. Although its TV packages are slightly inferior in [the] number of channels to those of the big cable companies, its VOD library is enormous, and its pricing is aimed slightly lower — partly a consequence of the reduced channel range, but also as a result of the bundling reductions from customers taking fiber-optic, high-speed broadband. Thus far, of course, FiOS TV has been extremely successful, and there is no doubt that its offer will continue to expand. Few days go by when I don't get an email regarding Verizon adding more HD or local channels to its offer."

“South Korean service HanaTV has taken a different approach again," said Broughton. "Regulations in South Korea prohibit it from offering broadcast content over its broadband/telephone lines, so it offers a range of subscription, on-demand packages. Price is again a key factor, with the company taking in ARPUs [average revenue per user] of around 12 euros (about $17) from the product. This is on the low side for IPTV services — the offer is really a complementary one to the company's broadband segment. Rumors have been flying around recently regarding the relaxation of the laws [that] govern IPTV services in South Korea, so it is likely that in the near future, Hanaro Telecom will begin offering linear content as well as subscription, on-demand material.”

Top Market Developments

Broughton noted the following top market developments for 2007:

• Fastweb (in Europe) has begun to offer its TV package as a stand-alone product that doesn't require a broadband subscription. This is a first for a telco offering IPTV — broadband for most operators is still the core business, with IPTV a nice extra. The fact that Fastweb is now able to offer the service on its own means that the TV is profitable. This provides an indication as to where IPTV may end up in years to come. It also acts as a target for other operators — if Fastweb can make a profit out of its TV business, so can they.
• Advertising-funded VOD trials have begun in Europe. While commonplace in the U.S., ad-funded VOD is not really available in Europe. Belgacom is looking to buck this trend by offering on-demand films free, on an ad-supported basis. Other operators, including BT Vision, have expressed interest in funding content through ads, and there is no doubt that the reduction in costs would attract consumers.
• It's the best year yet for net additions for IPTV, although in Europe, it is likely that the peak has been reached and additions will decline from 2008 onward. More than 2.6 million new IPTV customers were registered in 2007 — 20 percent higher than in 2006. Additions were largely as a result of the Tier-1 operators that launched recently, which had a full year to conduct extensive marketing and benefited from a whole year of subscriber additions.
• PlayStation 3 activated for IPTV in South Korea: MegaTV, the service run by Korea Telecom, announced that Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 could be used as a set-top box for the TV service. MegaTV had 150,000 subscribers as of September, despite stiff competition from old hand HanaTV. Whether the PlayStation 3 will make much of a difference remains to be seen in South Korea's PC-dominated environment, but as the first console to be used as a true set-top box, it marks a significant point in convergence strategies in the media industry.
• Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is capable of acting as a set-top box. Considering Microsoft's hefty number of Mediaroom IPTV platform clients and its rapidly climbing installed base, this puts the Xbox 360 at a major advantage over the other consoles. However, with Microsoft yet to announce a single actual customer who is able to use the Xbox as a set-top box, this advantage has yet to be exploited.
• France's Iliad Group successfully equipped every broadband customer of Free Telecom with a Freebox IPTV set-top box, making Freebox TV the largest IPTV service in the world. Whether anyone is watching TV using the boxes is a bone of contention — indications from previous years suggested that subscriptions to further packages were as low as 10 percent — but at least as far as deployed boxes go, Freebox is streaks ahead.
• France Telecom hit 1 million customers for its IPTV services across Europe. Its French operations accounted for most of this at the end of Q3 2007, with 975,000 customers, but rapid growth in Poland in particular boosted this number to more than 1 million. Orange TV in France is now likely to claim more than 1 million customers on its own.
• IPTV reached more than 10 million subscribers globally this year. The majority are still in Europe, with perhaps 50 percent of the world's IPTV customers in France, but this is still a major checkpoint for IPTV.

More Developments

The analyst team at MRG Multimedia Research Group Inc., including Jose Alvear, Len Feldman, Steve Hawley and Gary Schultz, provided its own list of top IPTV developments of 2007 as follows:

• Free Telecom (Freebox) reached 1 million IPTV subscribers. This counts actual IPTV users, not customers who are just entitled to use IPTV but either can't, because their xDSL connection is too slow, or who choose not to.
• IPTV vendor consolidation really began in earnest:
  

• The Alcatel/Lucent merger closed this year, as did the formation of Nokia Siemens Networks.
• Motorola became No.1 player in live encoders, thanks to its acquisitions of Tut Systems Inc. and Modulus Video.
• Ericsson acquired Tandberg Television, and Cavalier Telephone and TV acquired SecureMedia Inc.
  

• Microsoft's service providers started deploying IPTV to their customers in quantity. While there are still concerns about the mass deployability of the Microsoft Mediaroom solution, it's clear that systems built on Microsoft's middleware have commercial viability.
• The first IPTV deployments (albeit small) began in India. Meanwhile, Korea’s on-demand (VOD) IPTV service is skyrocketing, partially due to Korea being the most broadband-equipped country in the world (with virtually 100 percent broadband penetration), with the majority of homes receiving speeds of up to 100 Mbps.
• For the first time, major cable operators such as Comcast are publicly expressing concern that the telcos' IPTV efforts are starting to eat away at their subscriber bases — and that is impacting shareholders.
• Providers are getting serious about advertising and content. When IPTV was an "early-adopter phenomenon," making it work was an exercise in creative engineering, and the operator's engineers were driving the train. Now, more than ever, concerns over cost containment, breakeven and profitability have engaged the business side of the house.
• IPTV turned a corner this year from an infrastructure perspective. Operators no longer question whether IPTV can be made to work as a business. Instead, the attention has moved toward refining the experience, and therefore, toward investing in testing, measurement and monitoring.
• The U.S. is being seen as finally starting to catch up with the rest of the IPTV world now that U.S. Tier-1 operators (such as Verizon and AT&T) are starting to scale. Yet, the perception of the U.S. and Canada as being "behind" has been a bit inaccurate, because smaller North American operators have been doing IPTV for as long as a decade.
• MPEG-4 AVC set-top boxes are shipping in volume, making it the first time that the true promises of MPEG-4 AVC could be realized after many years of promises. (MPEG-4 is considered the next- generation, highly efficient encoding standard.)

While much progress has been made in the IPTV market, there is plenty of room for growth and improvement. Despite the many challenges that remain, one thing is for certain: IPTV is here to stay. Today’s TV may not be gone in five years, but market dynamics are slowly changing the entertainment landscape. Those solutions that can deliver IPTV anywhere, anytime (TV, PC and mobile) are most likely to succeed in the long run. Although true convergence may not be here yet, it’s on the way, thanks in no small part to IPTV.

by David Cotriss/ dailyiptv.com

Transmission Products

Advanced IPTV Headend

If IPTV is part of your triple play plans, you know how important it is to implement a powerful, flexible, headend solution. Your solution must be able to transmit the greatest number of channels and best image quality with the best possible bandwidth efficiency. Whether your networks are xDSL, FTTx and/or HFC, Scientific Atlanta's IPTV headend solution has everything necessary to deliver:

Click on diagram for larger view

Meet your IPTV challenges:

Other Links Read more about the IPTV headend solution IPTV Set-Tops IPTV Platform SciCare Integration Services for Telecom Operator SciCare IPTV Training Services Build the right headend system for your business, whether your networks are xDSL, FTTx and/or HFC, whether you need a complete modular IPTV headend or individual open standards-based components that will integrate with third party middleware and other systems. Deliver more content and better quality images over less bandwidth with best-in-class MPEG4-10 (H.264) encoding, IntelliRate™ transrating and MPEG-2 encoding. Ensure greater flexibility and cost-effectiveness with dense signal reception and descrambling module, as well as intelligent Gigabit Ethernet IP streaming. Maintain optimized performance with the ROSA™ monitoring and management system including easy integration to third party middleware systems.

Key components in the IPTV headend solution:

D9655™ IP Streamer and Processor with IntelliRate transrating loop D9034 Encoder D9054 HDTV Encoder D9032™ MPEG-2 Encoder, upgradeable to MPEG4-10 Galaxy™ Rack System with multiple receivers and descramblers

D9034 Encoder

MPEG-4 part 10 or optionally MPEG-2 Pre-analysis with 3:2 pull-down inversion Adaptive motion compensated temporal filtering with PreSightPlus noise reduction ASI and IP streaming outputs Web-based GUI and SNMP management interface for interfacing to any Management System 1 RU, low power consumption, stackable Redundant power supply ensures uninterrupted operation if one power supply should fail Four audio channels as either embedded, analog or digital audio input Dolby®-Digital encoding, Dolby Digital pass-through or MPEG-1 Layer II audio Integrated Frame synchronizer with internal reference DVB VBI support Read more

[key components]

D9054 HDTV Encoder

Up to 20 Mbit/s MGEG-4part 10 MP@L4 vi compression rate PreSightPlus Pre-analysis Single slice JD AVC encoder Closed Captioning support via SMPTE 334M HD-SDI embedded audio support 1080i and 720p support Dual power supply Four MPEG audio channels Dolby Digital passthrough support ASI and Dual IP outputs (10/100 Base-T) Multi service streaming IP output Dedicated Ethernet 10/100 Base-T interface for management and maintenance WEB based GUI SNMP management interface for interfacing to any SNMP-based Management System including ROSA Network Management System Two rack units high, space-efficient, stackable Read more

[key components]

D9655 IP Streamer and Processor with IntelliRate transrating loop

Up to 20 ASI inputs Processing and SPTS de-multiplexing – up to 600Mbit/s IntelliRate transrating (with looped Transis RateCompressor) Transport Stream Monitoring DVB simulcrypt Scrambling Gigabit Ethernet IP output Open interfaces for easy interfacing to 3rd party systems Read more

[key components]

Digital Content Manager (DCM)

Stand-alone device, dedicated to high-performance transrating and rate limiting High processing power guarantees that every service gets attention it needs Read more

[key components]

D9032 MPEG-2 Encoder, upgradeable to MPEG4-10

Advanced MPEG-2 Encoder IP streaming and ASI output DPI (Digital Program Insertion) SDI and Composite input incl. Built-in Frame-synchronizer PreSigthPlus™ architecture with adaptive pre-.filtering and pre-Analysis (”dual-pass”) MPEG4-10 and HE-AAC through field-upgradeable HW Board Read more

[key components]

Galaxy Rack System with multiple receivers and descramblers:

Titan MKII™ Satellite Receiver (QPSK) Atlas MKII™ Terrestrial Receiver (DVB-T) Spectra™ Cable Receiver (QAM) Neon™ Network Adapter (34/45Mbit/s) Axis™ Network Adapter (STM-1/SONET, ATM, PDH) Indus MKII™ DVB Multi-channel descrambler

[key components]

scientificatlanta

Cable’s Top 10 Causes of Insomnia in ’08

CableFAX executive editor Michael Grebb took time out from the nonstop assault of the Consumer Electronics Show to put together his list of the most important issues cable operators have to contend with this year.

1. FCC. Need I say more? FCC chairman Kevin Martin is on a Cable Holy War of some sort—although we’re not sure what religion he’s defending. Regulationism? In any event, cable’s strategy of waiting out Martin over the next year in hopes that a new president will replace him with someone else has its pros and cons. The pros are that alliances with sympathetic FCC commissioners make keeping Martin in a box relatively doable over the next year. The cons are that the next FCC chairman could be even worse for cable. Hey, it could happen, though I have to admit it seems unlikely.

Who is Kevin Martin and why is he saying those terrible things about cable?

2. Competition. No one can dispute that Verizon’s success rolling out FiOS—along with the looming threat of AT&T’s U-verse—creates a serious problem for cable: The loss of basic subs. That’s likely to continue in ’08 as cable operators try to catch up with some of the features FiOS and U-verse have heaped upon the marketplace with their greenfield, spend-till-we-drop infrastructures. Things aren’t much better on the DBS side, with Dish Network and DirecTV continuing to apply pressure on cable in the HD space. The two-pronged attack is a big ’08 challenge for cable, which on one hand must keep ramping up broadband speeds and improving VOD and other TV navigation features but on the other must keep adding more capacity-draining HD to the mix to compete with both satellite and telco offerings. Tough stuff, but cable’s up to the challenge.

3. The Digital Transition. Not much to say here. Cable has to step up—even though the transition is really more the responsibility of the broadcast industry. But let’s not harp on that. In Washington, policy makers expect cable to do its part, working with broadcasters and consumer electronics companies to ensure a smooth transition. As we approach that fateful February ’09 deadline, it won’t get any easier to educate consumers and play nice with those other industries.

4. The Capacity Crunch. Have you noticed that cable is running at capacity? No? Do you live on another planet? The consumer demand for faster broadband speeds and more HD channels isn’t going away—especially as more video on the Internet fuels broadband demand and the digital transition pushes more of them to buy big-screen HDTV sets. The good news is that ’08 should mark the first year that switched digital video starts its march into the cable mainstream. Not a moment too soon.

5. Cable’s Busy Calendar. Everyone knows about the NCTA board’s effort to scale back the number of cable-related events that executives feel obliged to attend during the course of the year. It’s an understandable goal that recognizes the corporate drain of all this travel. But the potential pitfalls of going too far are obvious: At a time of increasing competition, an uncertain economy and unprecedented technological change, do we really want cable’s top execs holed up in their offices bouncing ideas off of their internal echo chambers? Might it make sense to stay engaged with outside voices and stay abreast of the latest developments? My advice: If you choose not to travel much in ’08, then make sure you subscribe to CableFAX.

6. Wall Street. Has cable ever been hated this much on Wall Street? Well, the truth is that cable has gone through these periods of financial negativity before (most recently following the 1992 Cable Act’s passage and subsequent years of FCC regulation). But cable’s implosion over the last few months—at least in terms of stock price—has been unique in its speed and breadth. After all, Wall Street was singing cable’s praises less than a year ago. What happened? Verizon happened, that’s what. Those basic sub losses have spooked the Street. Cable has got to turn that trend around in ’08, and do it while also growing other areas of its business. And as it spends, spends, spends to keep up with the Joneses, cable operators are doing so in one of the worst credit crunches we’ve seen in years. Good thing it’s a high cash-flow business!

7. Diversity. America is changing. And with a more diverse customer base comes the need to hire a more diverse workforce. Cable understands this and has made strides at just about every level. But, as always, much work remains to be done. Anyone who attended the last NAMIC conference knows that many minority cable execs feel as if they still face certain workplace hurdles that their white counterparts don’t. Reasonable people can disagree about the state of diversity in cable, but the important thing is to keep those lines of communication open in ’08.

8. Commercial Services. Did you think I was going to say “wireless”? Well, mobility is certainly sexier than commercial services, but when you look across the cable spectrum in ’08, it seems clear that commercial services markets are a more immediate opportunity for top-line growth. Better yet, stealing commercial customers from the telcos hurts their numbers just as they’re stealing cable’s basic subs. Sometimes life has its little bonuses.

9. The On-Demand Consumer. Customers are simply not willing to live by cable’s rules anymore. They want content when they want it. They want content where they want it. Hell, they even want content the way they want to create it. And they want to share all of it with their friends. Yet we live with the legacy of licensing deals and copyright concerns that pre-date all of this consumer liberation. Over the next year, cable will need to work with countless other industries to make sure that it stays in touch with this big consumer trend. Cable can’t drop the ball. Others will pick it up. Very quickly.

10. Customer Service. All of these new technologies and consumption trends are great, but the heated competitive environment means cable can’t rest on the customer-service gains it has made in recent years. Customers are used to all of that improved customer service now. They want more. And cable has to deliver it in ’08. That means CSRs who are knowledgeable and can answer any question—no matter how technical or obscure. It means giving your best customers freebies and random thank-you gifts. If I spend $250 a month on the triple play, why shouldn’t I be treated as a VIP? Thinking about the next generation of customer service will be a big challenge for cable this year. Period.

By Michael Grebb