[mythtv-users] The Death of MythTV in the US?

[Brian Wood]

On Mar 31, 2008, at 9:08 PM, Dewey Smolka wrote:
>>
>
> I have to believe that there are a whole lot more people who who keep
> their subscriptions for >=2 years than break the box, cancel, or
> disappear. It isn't a good profit proposition in the short term since
> Comcast has to put the money up front, but in the long term, the boxes
> pay for themselves in 10-12 months. Anytime they can lease an STB or
> modem longer than that is pure gravy.


The "Old Days" I referred to were "pre-addressable".

Starting in the early 80s cable boxes acquired "addressable"  
capability. This means that the operator could change channel lineups  
or enable/disable services on either an individual or a global basis.  
Prior to that they had to run a service truck to do anything, even an  
HBO purchase, and if they wanted to do a global channel lineup change  
they would have to change out every box. With fuel costs today any  
time you can save a truck roll you're ahead.

In addition, modern STBs allow pay-per-view and on-demand services. I  
don't know how much money they make from such services but once the  
boxes are in place, along with the headend gear, the incremental cost  
is low.

So I guess they are a worthwhile thing for cable operators today. Even  
if the rental income doesn't cover the costs by itself the other  
savings are probably worth it. Basically they get to save expenses and  
make us pay for it.

One thing I'm sure has not changed: I'm sure they are still a PIA to  
those who have to install and maintain them.

I once had a sneaky idea: Power is a significant expense to a cable  
operator. What if you had each STB feed just a few watts back out to  
the system, you could run it using your customer's power. The current  
in the lines would also discourage tampering :-)

beww