In this era, set-top boxes of all kinds are proliferating. Netflix, Vudu, Sling, TiVo, Apple and others have been in the news in recent days and weeks announcing some kind of wrinkle on using a set-top to deliver a world of on-demand movies, TV shows and Internet video. Add to that the cable and satellite receivers, combos, DVD players and literally dozens of PC media adapters "out there" and you get the feeling "Who needs another set-top device?"

John DiLoreto
Analyst and Editor for
Insight Media

So, when Sony announced this week a TV that would do away with the latest generation of interactive digital cable set-tops, various news media lined up to ask, "Could this be the end of cable set-top boxes?" Don’t count on it.

Sony and six of the nation’s largest cable companies have agreed to a standard that will allow consumers to access interactive digital cable broadcasts without a set-top box. Sony and the cable companies (Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox, Charter, Cablevision and Bright House Networks) agreed to adopt the Java-based "tru2way" solution developed by CableLabs and also supported by Samsung.

This solution has been awhile in coming. You might remember the (one-way) CableCARD initiative from 2003 that found limited acceptance and support from cable companies and CE manufacturers alike. The National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) have been battling over an acceptable two-way "plug and play" standard for months. The new solution lets a consumer access cable without a set-top box using the CableCARD standard as a hardware interface, and the tru2way software as the middleware governing the use of services.

Last August, the NCTA and CEA submitted competing proposals to the FCC for how to handle two-way services. The NCTA has apparently smoothed out any differences with Sony, at least. The NCTA said that other companies are currently reviewing Tuesday’s agreement, and that further details about the deal will not be released until they have had a chance to sign on.

While it is great that consumers can buy retail products that use the same technology as the cable industry, what has not been addressed in these announcements is how much this "plug and play" technology will add to the cost of each TV.

For the era of cable set-top boxes to go away, virtually every cable subscriber will have to replace every TV in their household with a set that has this additional hardware. And they will have to pay for it, without any subsidy from the cable operator.

Insight Media has written about joint ventures of TV manufacturers that planned to add Internet video capability to their sets. We have written about TV sets with integrated DVR capabilities. None of these integrations has caught on (at least in the US). Not only do they add extra expense, but the consumer loses the flexibility to upgrade or to change his mind without replacing the whole unit. That was the argument behind component hi-fi stereo equipment back in the 60’s. It can be applied today with video.

Nobody likes the profusion of set-top boxes vying to invade our living rooms. It may sound appealing in headlines to suggest the disappearance of perhaps the most ubiquitous of them - the cable set-top. But does anybody really think this will happen? We certainly don’t. We’re just happy that the consumer has an option to get rid of his own cable box, one room at a time.