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The 'ultimate home theater'… more DVR for TWC… Comcast HDTV goes west… HD moves from Discovery and

Attendees at the 52nd annual National Cable & Telecommunications Association convention (Chicago, June 8-11) will get to sample the high-tech life of luxury at the show's first-ever HD Pavilion. Produced in partnership with CableLabs, the pavilion will feature an "ultimate home theater" plus Ikea-style living rooms with high-definition VOD, PVR and Microsoft Xbox equipment. A tutorial center will offer how-to demos while a retail area will feature the latest HD consumer electronics and the CableLabs Go2Broadband HDTV service locator. Visitors can also kick back in a video lounge to watch HD programming from HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Discovery, ESPN, A&E, History, MSG, Bravo, Comcast SportsNet, PBS and HDNet, which will produce live hi-def programming from the show and transmit all general sessions nationwide via satellite to HDNet viewers.

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Now that its new Answers on Demand interactive tutorial channel has been launched in Austin, Texas, Cincinnati, Columbus, Ohio, Milwaukee and San Diego, Time Warner Cable's marketing team is touting the benefits of its advanced technology. Building on its "Now, Anything's Possible" initiative launched in October, this week the MSO unveils a new campaign called "Live in the Moment." The first television spot, "Roses," shows how DVRs let customers get more out of life. Other TV spots for on-air and cross-channel promotion highlight the unintended (and comical) perils of watching live - instead of time-shifted - television. The campaign by Shepardson, Stern and Kaminsky also features radio spots, direct mail pieces and print and outdoor ads. Spanish-language versions of the TV and radio spots begin next week.

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DVR is now available to Time Warner Cable subs in Cincinnati (where more than 1,200 customers signed up in advance), Raleigh, N.C., northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania. Its earlier launches continue to gain traction: In Rochester, more than 12% of its subscribers signed up for DVR in the first six months. VOD is also reaching more homes with the expansion of movies-on-demand in northeast Florida last week. This month's launch of a third local news channel in Texas - San Antonio joins Austin and Houston - also means more local VOD content for TWC subs in the state. News 8 Austin broadcast a mayoral forum on April 15; by the following day it was available on local VOD Channel 1301. TWC this month began testing a faster cable modem service tier with speed of up to 3 Mbps downstream and 512 Kbps upstream. Dubbed Road Runner Xtreme, it's priced at $79.95 per month in Lincoln, Neb., $89.95/mo in Dayton, Ohio, and $99.95/mo in Greensboro, N.C.

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Comcast is soft-launching HDTV on May 1 in Sacramento, the first Comcast market in the West to receive the service. Subscribers can access hi-def programming from HBO, Showtime and local ABC and NBC stations, with a broader offering to follow this summer. The company last week expanded its HD lineup in Nashville, where about 1% of the market's 317,000 subscribers now have HD boxes. Comcast's 65,000 former AT&T Broadband customers in Florida's Treasure Coast region are also on track to get Internet service by June.

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"Get me some Raybans - the HD future is too bright," quips Clint Stinchcomb, SVP/GM of Discovery HD Theater. Upcoming launches include Cox systems in San Diego, Santa Barbara, Calif., Tucson, Ariz., and Omaha, Neb., along with Charter systems in Newtown, Conn., Worcester, Mass., and Long Beach, Calif. The offering was ranked the No. 1 HD service by 500 Cox subscribers surveyed in Las Vegas, where viewers said they appreciated the uninterrupted programming (with only 1 minute per hour of commercials) and that it's a unique, not simulcast, service.

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Las Vegas HD fans can also now check out ESPN HD, which Cox next launches in Northern Virginia, Phoenix and San Diego in May followed by Omaha in June. Insight is bringing the service to Columbus and selected markets in Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois. ESPN will launch on Insight's new HD tier, which will cost digital subs $10 per month on top of a $2 per month equipment fee. Smaller operators Susquehanna, Blue Ridge and Comporium have also signed up for the service. ESPN is introducing a PPV service - featuring NCAA baseball championship games, martial arts, fantasy league specials and original movies - to complement its existing GamePlan and Full Court out-of-market PPV packages. The PPV service kicks off with College Grand Slam, a package of up to 24 games from the NCAA baseball championship's super regional round, available June 6 to 9 for $19.95.

Are you testing, launching, expanding or just plain creatively marketing VOD, HSD, HDTV, DVR, ITV, VoIP, a new IPG or another of cable's acronyms? Send news and feedback to sbrady@primediabusiness.com.

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The 'ultimate home theater'… more DVR for TWC… Comcast HDTV goes west… HD moves from Discovery and

Cable World, April 28, 2003

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