Is Cable Embarrassed About Its HD Efforts?

Sometimes in life, what isn't said is more important than what is. Case in point: the big Cable Show earlier this week in Las Vegas. You would think that with all of the focus other industries are placing on HDTV, cable would want to highlight its efforts as well. To the contrary...not only were there absolutely zero breakout sessions devoted to cable HD, virtually none of the high-powered panelists in the general sessions even uttered the word HDTV. Contrast this lack of HD content with the countless sessions about topics such as OCAP, DOCSIS 3.0, interactive advertising and online video. Seemed a little odd to me, so I started asking people about it.

For those of you who haven't attended, the Cable Show is an opportunity for programming networks and equipment vendors to showcase their wares to cable company representatives who wander around the show looking for the coolest tchotchkes or celebrities to get their photos taken with. So as an example, the new Big Ten Network (owned by Fox Cable Networks) featured college basketball coaches Thad Matta of Ohio State, Tom Izzo of Michigan State and Bruce Weber of Illinois, along with former Wisconsin football coach Barry Alvarez, signing autographs to promote the upcoming launch of the Big Ten Network.

I asked a number of executives from HD programmers why there was such a lack of interest in high-def from the cable industry at the show. Off the record, several told me that the general perception right now among programmers is that the satellite companies and telcos are innovating while the cable providers are litigating, a reference to the Time Warner Cable lawsuit against DIRECTV's HD ads. Having panels at the Cable Show about HDTV would merely highlight cable's apparent insecurities about its current HD positioning against its competitors.

When you consider that in many U.S. markets the local cable company only offers 15-20 HD channels compared to 27-31 from the local telco and up to 40 from satellite, it's little wonder some HD programmers feel like they're getting the short shrift from cable. When DIRECTV begins offering 100 national HD channels later this year after the launch of its new satellite, the disparity will be exacerbated even further.

Now I tend to be technology-agnostic when it comes to HDTV. Every provider has its challenges, whether they come in the form of network bandwidth, signal compression or service deployment. From a consumer perspective, I'd be happy connecting two empty toilet paper rolls and a piece of dental floss to the back of my plasma TV if it could get me 50 HD channels. However, when cable refuses to talk about HDTV at its biggest event of the year, and programmers who deal with them express serious doubts about cable's willingness to innovate, it seems to me that speaks volumes about the state of the industry today.