Wait… Volunteering for Hard Labor in the OTT Camp Is Not Universally Appealing to John and Jane TV Viewer?

With all of the talk lately of “cord cutting” and “cable killers,” there’s also been some chatter lately about cable’s push to improve the customer experience. Once you get beyond the catchy alliterative terms, it seems there are more and more examples—anything from on-screen TV guides to online speeds to static-free phones—of ways that the cable companies are moving to deliver innovative products.

Given the mixed reviews of some of the latest Web-to-TV devices, cable’s timing is impeccable. But I believe it can be enhanced by more closely linking the customer’s experience with cable’s massive wealth of content. Here’s where I think companies like ActiveVideo can really enhance the cable customer experience by enabling operators to deliver additional content and apps from the cloud.

Our message to cable operators is that you can put as much content in the cloud as you’d like, and make it as easy for the customer to retrieve as changing a channel. No new devices. No home theater system integrations. No keyboards. Plus the best image quality available and all of the live sports and premium content you’d ever want.

I concede that OTT (over the top) can be fascinating…if you really want to work at it. But frankly, the idea of “working at” television is the last thing most people want to do at the end of the day. In most cases, they’d rather immerse themselves in services that demand little effort and deliver top-notch experiences.

With the availability of features like those mentioned above, it’s clear that operators really are getting that concept. It’s not going to stop competitors from coming out of the woodwork, but by delivering cloud-based content to enhance an already terrific customer experience, cable operators will make it more difficult than ever for consumers to cut that cord.