Evolution Digital’s technology figured out how to make it cheaper for TV providers to offer over-the-top streaming video content to customers.
In an effort to drive down the cost of TV service, a Denver cable provider has partnered with TiVo and Centennial’s to build a low-cost set-top box to offer its customers streaming services along with regular cable TV.
, which is based in Denver but has no customers here, plans to use the technology to roll out “a growing slate of OTT (over-the-top streaming) content offerings” like Netflix, Vudu, YouTube, Pandora and Spotify, said Cash Hagen, WOW’s chief technology officer said in a statement.
“The new WOW! offering from TiVo will serve the next generation of millennial and skinny bundle subscribers seeking video solutions to complement our leading broadband offerings,” Hagen said.
Pay TV providers are fighting back against the newer streaming and single-channel TV services by in a plan. But cord-cutters, who cancelled their pay TV subscriptions, have yet to return even with these more enticing skinny bundles.
But pay TV providers have also been slow to respond. Many don’t offer easy access to video content like Netflix right on the cable box. Dish Network so last December.
TiVo, an independent set-top box company, has offered Netflix and other streaming features right on its box. WOW will use TiVo’s software to offer video content on mobile, web and a new hybird-HD box from Evolution Digital. The hybrid box has no recording capacity and requires no cableCARD to access cable TV. (Typical TiVo boxes require cableCARDs to receive cable TV content). Instead, the new box relies on a coax connection, Ethernet or MoCA (Media over Coax) to provide an Internet connection so videos can be streamed to the box.
“The main benefit is that it reduces the hardware costs for operators by as much as 40 percent, not to mention enabling internet connectivity to every set-top device,” said Brent Smith, Evolution Digital’s president and chief technical officer.
WOW! Internet, Cable & Phone
WOW, which was , has typically ranked among the better half of for consumer satisfaction when it comes to TV service.
The company sold off its Denver-area cable customers to Champion Broadband in 2003 and today . It offers a refreshing approach to TV service, at least for a cable company. On its site, it appears to be on the side of the cord cutter and rallies customers to support by doing away with channels consumers don’t want and fighting channels.
The company, now owned by New York’s Avista Capital Partners, employs about 100 people at its Denver office and 2,900 nationwide. It also has a call center in Colorado Springs with about 350 employees.
