5 Technology Innovations Changing Cable TV

When it comes to technical innovation, cable has had a reputation — not altogether unwarranted — of being slow off the mark. But the industry appears to be finally breaking free from the chains that have tied it down.

The future of cable technology was in full view at the Cable Show earlier this month. Concepts crystallized into compelling demos and, in some cases, actual products. On-screen guides will be delivered from “the cloud ”— and to any device. After being locked into digital cable TV technology, MSOs have a clear road for how they’ll deliver Internet protocol video to their customers. At the same time, the network of connections is getting faster and smarter to be able to accommodate the coming multiscreen, all- IP-video future. Broadband and digital-cable equipment vendors demonstrated that MSOs will be able to fully tap into the 1 Gigahertz spectrum available over hybrid fiber coaxial networks, yielding multiple Gigabits per second of bandwidth. Grouped into five areas of innovation, here's a look at what was on display in Chicago: 1) Web-user Interfaces, 2) Multiscreen video, 3) Broadband, 4) Home gateways, and 5) Advanced TV ads.