“Time Warner Cable is ‘hard at work at a cloud-based [TV] guide experience’ and is open to giving up control of the user interface as it looks to make its service accessible via new devices, including Apple’s iPhones and iPads, president and COO Rob Marcus told an investor conference in New York on Wednesday,” Georg Szalai reports for The Hollywood Reporter.
“But he emphasized that this does not mean that the cable giant is willing “to give up the customer relationship” as the company is committed to ensuring that people know its TV services are provided by TW Cable and not any device maker or other third party,” Szalai reports. “Deal details will depend on the partner and circumstances though, he told the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference in New York in a session that was webcast. ‘In some of those cases that may mean giving up control of the interface,’ Marcus said without mentioning Apple by name. ‘It really is all about maximizing the capabilities…to give Time Warner Cable customers the best possible experience.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Good, because right now Time Warner’s set-top box UI [Mystro] sucks donkey you-know-what. It’s worse than anything even Microsoft could dream up.
Szalai reports, “Marcus’ comments came after recent comments that TW Cable has held talks with Apple about possible agreements that would lead Apple to provide or control the cable firm’s user interface.”
Read more in the full article here.
Siri?
Glimmers of common sense starting to percolate through.
That’s just smart.
Damned if common sense doesn’t finally filter through after 60 years of wacko 50 button remotes that reliably fail.
Sorry to burst your bubble but 60 years ago you had to get off your fat ass, walk over to the TV and manually change the channel from 2 to 13 to change from one the broadcasting stations to another.
In Canada we were in a city that actually had 4 stations. Most Canadians, at that time, didn’t have to get up. There was only one station. Thank you, Detroit, for those extra stations.
Fifty-years ago, living in Sault Ste. Marie, MI, I remember our first television and how the indian-broadcast slug would precede the broadcast day and the National Anthem at midnight would conclude the day’s broadcast.
TW just upgraded Mystro and it’s a mystery to me. So cluttered and unfriendly. I can’t even group all of my favorites easily accessible in one place except to be forced to go through them in order of appearance! Kinda defeats the purpose! They are not committed to creating the best interface but doing as little as humanly and corporately possible. There’s so much that can be done to order so many channels into something accessible and usable. They just splay out all over the place in random order. Really dumb and needing major revamping Apple style. Can’t wait to drop-kick what TW thinks is an interface to the curb.
Great news. I hope this sends positive ripples through the cable provider industry.
The first thing that needs to go is that stupid Cable Card system. Apple is wonderful. However it would be great if you let anyone and everyone build on top of your system.
Let people build apps that control 3rd party devices.
I dumped television all together because it just isn’t worth it any longer. I only get Internet service from TW (a solid 50Mb/s download with very little trouble btw). Now TW is sending out notices attempting to get cord cutters to sign up for television again.
Maybe if you made television VASTLY more accessible it would be worth it. If I can use any DVR I want, watch programs that I’ve paid for on any freaking device that I want, ESPECIALLY WHEN THE STUPID DEVICE IS 5 FEET FROM MY TELEVISION, without any dumb ass licensing issues, etc. maybe I’ll consider it.
Maybe if I can subscribe to the programs I want on my DVR, instead of paying $100 per month for tons of crap I’m not interested in, then I might consider it.
Until TW catches up with the capabilities of the world, I’m still advising people to drop television all together, Apple or no Apple. The back end is in the stone age.
Cable Card; it’s DRM, it’s inexpensive, it’s here to stay.
When Time Warner says “Customer Relationship,” it’s a lot like when AT&T says “Customer Relationship” which is a great deal like when Warden Jones and Folsom County Federal Penitentiary says “Customer Relationship.”
If you’re stuck with Time Warner’s UI… Give TiVO a try. Sometimes it takes an act of God, Congress, and a Constitutional amendment to get it working but once it does, it’s a freaking joy to use.
Or.. better still… dump the TV all together, have them bump your Internet service up to 50Mb/s down, and you won’t look back. You will no longer be tied to watching programs when they’re on or dealing with the horrible TW UI.
Get an AppleTV. The thing is great.
Let’s assume you’re like me, and you have maybe 10 television programs you regularly watch. Let’s say they charge $30 each for the subscriptions. That’s a one time $300 charge for your TV entertainment, vs. at least $100 a month paid to the cable company. You also have NetFlix, Hulu Plus, Youtube, and various other sources of entertainment. Cut the cord! Be free of their madness until they are willing to treat us like human beings, and not pockets of cash.
User interface? I need apps. Kill all these html5 videos. argh
> is open to giving up control of the user interface as it looks to make its service accessible via new devices, including Apple’s iPhones and iPads…
and Apple TV, obviously. Now, get Comcast and a few others onboard, and “iTV” (the complete Apple TV) will be ready to go, at least in the U.S. market.
Everyone will be onboard after the iPad mini is releaed and they start getting a grip on the sheer number of iOS smallscreen devices ( in addiion to OSX ones) that Apple has out there. These diehard, unwavering customers that prefer the smallscreen advantage, anyday, over conventional large screen TVs will be lost to the cable companys forever if they don’t quickly smell the coffe and join the Apple multimedia revolution. iPad mini on the heels of a flabergasting iPhone5 launch will change their tune to iTunes real soon.
“Good, because right now Time Warner’s set-top box UI [Mystro] sucks donkey you-know-what. It’s worse than anything even Microsoft could dream up.”
Wow! That really sucks! xD
Good. Now Apple can make my Time Warner stock go up too!
Wow, the UI must be bad. I have A&tt Uverse and it does have a microsoft os. It would be great tv service, except for the cable box which sucks monkey balls.
I hope Apple will build a UI for cable boxes.