Cable Has Broadband Pipe to Battle Over-the-Top Providers

The broadband pipe entering the consumer residence and the ability to manage the content flowing over that pipe gives cable an advantage when competing with over-the-top video providers such as Google TV, Apple TV and even Netflix, technical presenters said during the opening day session at SCTE Cable Tec Expo in New Orleans.

According to Robert Howald, Motorola’s chief technology officer, cable is concluding its digital TV era and entering its Internet era and doing so with an advantage: the fact that it owns the broadband pipe and can wrest control of the content flowing over that pipe.

“It’s essential ...