If you are a Cablevision customer in New Jersey, your cable company wants you to use a set top box on all of your televisions, and eventually pay $6.95 a month for each of them.

Cablevision is beginning a conversion of its cable lineup to digital in a transition that is expected to last until October. After that, customers will need to use a box or CableCARD for each of their televisions hooked to cable.

The change is upsetting customers who do not want the hassle and expense of a converter box, especially those using third party equipment to record and watch favorite shows.

Cablevision does not yet offer a cheaper alternative – a digital transport adapter (DTA), which can turn digital signals into analog ones and allow customers rudimentary access to certain digital services on older sets. Instead, the company will offer customers several extra traditional set top boxes or CableCARDs for between one and two years before charging the usual monthly rental fee.

The cable operator says the majority of its customers already watch with a set top box as the company has gradually reduced its lineup of analog signals. Cablevision customers in New York and Connecticut have already made the transition to the digital lineup.

But some customers are upset enough about the change that they are threatening to switch to Verizon FiOS, although that service also requires customers to use set top boxes.

Comcast subscribers in other parts of the state have also been experiencing a transition to all-digital lineups.

Cable operators are moving video services to digital to make room for additional offerings, including more HD channels, faster Internet speeds, and new product lines like home security and automation. Many inside the industry also predict it is part of a greater transition towards an IP-based delivery system that will provide one large digital pipe through which television, phone, broadband and other services will all travel together.

Cablevision Digital Conversion Details:

• Those currently paying for set top box(es) will continue to do so. But customers can request additional boxes or CableCARDs for every remaining television in the home and receive them free for one year;
• Those who have no digital set top boxes in their homes now can receive a free box or CableCARD for every set for two years. In all instances, after the free promotion ends, customers will pay $6.95/mo for each device;
• Newer televisions equipped with a QAM tuner can watch Cablevision’s broadcast basic tier, consisting primarily of local over the air stations, without any extra equipment. Basic cable networks and premium channels will require a box or CableCARD;
• Broadband customers can use Cablevision’s app for iOS or a personal computer to watch the company’s cable lineup within the home;
• DTA boxes will be available from Cablevision within a year;
• Equipment installation is free. Do-it-yourself customers can have the necessary equipment mailed to them for free or can pick equipment up at any Optimum Store location.

Comcast has changed its explanation why the company’s XFINITY TV service, streamed over Xbox 360 has been made exempt from the company’s 250GB usage cap.

Last week, the company claimed the service traveled over the company’s “private IP” network, exempting it from usage restrictions.  That created a small furor among public interest groups and Net Neutrality supporters because of the apparent discrimination against streamed video content not partnered with the country’s biggest cable operator.

Stop the Cap! argued what we’ve always argued — usage caps and speed throttles are simply an end run around Net Neutrality — getting one-up on your competition without appearing to openly discriminate.

Now Comcast hopes to make its own end run around the topic by changing the language in its FAQ:

Before:

After:

Although the words have changed, the story stays the same.

The key principle to remember:

Data = Data

Comcast suggests its Xbox XFINITY TV service turns your game console into a set top box, receiving the same type of video stream its conventional cable boxes receive.  The cable company is attempting to conflate traditional video one would watch from an on-demand movie channel as equivalent to XFINITY TV over the Xbox.  Since the video is stored on Comcast’s own IP network, the company originally argued, it creates less of a strain on Comcast’s cable system.

AT&T's U-verse is an example of an IP-based distribution network.

But the cable industry’s inevitable march to IP-based delivery of all of their content may also bring a convenient excuse to proclaim that data does not always equal data.  They have the phone companies to thank for it.

Take AT&T’s U-verse or Bell’s Fibe.  Both use a more advanced form of DSL to deliver a single digital data pipeline to their respective customers.  Although both companies try to make these “advanced networks” sound sexy, in fact they are both just dumb data pipes, divided into segments to support different services.  The largest segment of that pipe is reserved for video cable TV channels, which take up the most bandwidth. A smaller slice is reserved for broadband, and a much smaller segment is set aside for telephone service.

AT&T and Bell’s pipes don’t know the difference between video, audio, or web content because they are all digital data delivered to customers on an IP-based network.  Yet both AT&T and Bell only slap usage caps on their broadband service, claiming it somehow eases congestion, even though video content always uses the most bandwidth. (They have not yet figured out a way to limit your television viewing to “maintain a good experience for all of their customers,” but we wouldn’t put it past them to try one day.)

What last mile congestion problem?

Comcast’s argument for usage limiting one type of data while exempting other data falls into the same logical black hole.  Comcast’s basic argument for usage caps has always been it protects a shared network experience for customers.  Since cable broadband resources are shared within a neighborhood, the company argues, it must impose limits on “heavy users” who might slow down service for others.

We've heard this all before. Former AT&T CEO Dan Somers: "AT&T didn’t spend $56 billion to get into the cable business to have the blood sucked out of (its) veins."

But in a world where DOCSIS 3 technology and a march to digital video distribution is well underway or near completion at many of the nation’s cable operators, the “last mile” bandwidth shortage problem of the early 2000s has largely disappeared.  In fact, Comcast itself recognized that, throwing the usage door wide open distributing bandwidth heavy XFINITY TV over the Xbox console cap-free.

As broadband advocates and industry insiders continue the debate about whether this constitutes a Net Neutrality violation or not, a greater truth should be considered.  Stop the Cap! believes providers have more than one way to exercise their control over broadband.

Naked discrimination against web content from the competition is a messy, ham-handed way to deal with pesky competitors.  Putting up a content wall around Netflix or Amazon is a concept easy to grasp (and get upset about), even by those who may not understand all of the issues.

Internet Overcharging schemes like usage caps and speed throttles can win providers the same level of control without the political backlash.  Careful modification of consumer behavior can draw customers to company-owned or partnered content without using a heavy hammer.

Simply slap a usage limit on customers, but exempt partnered content from the limit.  Now customers have a choice: use up their precious usage allowance with Netflix or watch some of the same content on the cable company’s own unlimited-use service.

Nobody is “blocking” Netflix, but the end result will likely be the same:

• Comcast wins all the advantages for itself and its “preferred partners”;
• Customers find themselves avoiding the competition to save their usage allowance;
• Competitors struggle selling to consumers squeezed by inflexible usage caps.

It is all a matter of control, and that is nothing new for large telecom companies.

Back in 1999, AT&T Broadband owned a substantial amount of what is today Comcast Cable.  Then-CEO Dan Somers made it clear AT&T’s investment would be protected.

“AT&T didn’t spend $56 billion to get into the cable business to have the blood sucked out of [its] veins,” Somers said, referring to streamed video.

Obviously Comcast agrees.

Time Warner Cable is letting victims of recent devastating storms spend their time and energy worrying about rebuilding their lives and not ponder the loss of company-owned cable boxes, modems, and other equipment.

Unlike several smaller cable companies that have hounded customers for cable equipment destroyed in storms, fires, and other natural disasters, Time Warner is signaling they are waiving any lost/damaged equipment fees when tragedy strikes.

Many cable operators expect to recoup lost or damaged equipment from proceeds of insurance claims, and relentlessly bill clients for the full value of equipment that may have melted in a fire or blown blocks away in a tornado.  While homeowner and rental policies traditionally cover this equipment, few customers are in a state of mind to worry about a DVR box or cable modem, and some may have to wait weeks or months for restitution from the insurance company.

Stop the Cap! reader Kathleen is now an extended guest at a Kentucky “extended stay” motel after her house was damaged by a tornado several days ago.

“I’m an organized person and I had my emergency planning kit ready to go, calling the insurance company, the utilities, and the cable company, among others, to make sure everything was documented,” Kathleen writes. “Our DVR box and cable modem are probably sitting in a field in southern Ohio right now, as the storm completely took away our family room.”

Kathleen originally was planning to write complaining Time Warner wanted several hundred dollars for the lost equipment because that is what the first representative told her.

“But 20 minutes after that call, a supervisor called us back and profusely apologized, telling us the representative was not supposed to charge for the lost equipment because of the storm,” Kathleen says. “They got themselves a lot more loyalty from me than that equipment ever cost them because they did the right thing by me and my family.”

Kathleen tells us Time Warner has stopped all charges on her account, offered her their good wishes for a recovery, and will waive any installation costs to get her service back up and running when repairs are complete.

“Following the horrific storms of last week, Time Warner Cable immediately suspended all credit and collections work in the area,” a spokesperson tells Stop the Cap! “Time Warner Cable has not and will not charge customers for lost or damaged equipment as a result of these storms.”

“It is why I will call Time Warner back when this is all over and will stick with them because they stuck with us,” says Kathleen. “Sorry AT&T.”

[Consumer Tip from Stop the Cap!: Every renter should always have renter’s insurance, which typically will cover damaged cable equipment. It’s very affordable and protects renters from losses. Many consumers believe landlords carry insurance which will protect them in the event of a natural disaster or fire, but those insurance policies protect the landlord’s property, not renters’ possessions.]

Inmates at the Liberty County Jail in Texas managed to outwit Comcast’s set top boxes to watch “hours on end” of soft-core pornography for free, courtesy of the cable company.

Jail Warden Tim New claimed he spent weeks trying to get Comcast technicians out to the county facility to fix the problem — one that Comcast denied could be happening.

“4 Dorm watching porno channel again,” read one February security log obtained by ABC News. Just three days later, a guard wrote, “One of the TV’s had porn on it. Told them to change the channel.”

“I believe that Comcast just couldn’t believe that their system had been manipulated,” Capt. Rex Evans with the Liberty Count sheriff’s office told ABC.

It turns out bypassing the cable boxes effectively opened every channel up for viewing.

It finally took a threat from County Judge Craig McNair to cancel Comcast service in the jail to get the cable company to dispatch a technician.

“Once Liberty County made us aware the inmates had access to Cinemax, we took the necessary steps to block access to the channel,” a representative for the cable company said.

Inmates told KPRC that there would be “a lot of fights” because of the porn sessions and that showers had become “hell” because of Cinemax.

[flv width=”624″ height=”372″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KPRC Houston Nightly porno TV shows for inmates prompt action by county leaders 2-29-12.flv[/flv]

KPRC-TV in Houston covers a porn scandal inside Liberty County jails.  Public safety officials blame Comcast for not pulling the plug on the adult programming.  (3 minutes)

Boxee, the manufacturer of an Internet-enabled tuner that works like a set top box, has launched an attack against a cable industry plan to encrypt basic cable channels, calling it costly to consumers and the environment:

Amidst flat and declining cable TV subscription numbers, Cable companies are lobbying the FCC to force every cable subscriber to rent cable boxes or cable cards even if they don’t want or need them now.

Currently cable companies must deliver broadcast channels in a way that enables tuners like Boxee Live TV (and the ones in your TV) to display those channels without any extra hardware.

Now the cable companies are asking the FCC to change the rules and turn access off. Their main excuse being that it will reduce the need for the cable guy to drive to your house to disconnect your cable and thus be better for the environment. Considering this ruling would also mean millions more set top boxes and cable cards are manufactured, distributed, and attached to electric outlets (see below for consumption), their argument doesn’t hold water. It’s akin to a cable executive taking a private jet to an FCC meeting, but insisting on having recycled toilet paper on-board to help save the environment.

Boxee

Boxee and other consumer groups oppose the industry’s encryption plan because they say it would deliver no tangible benefits to consumers — just higher cable bills for new equipment that rents for $5-15 a month for each box.  It will also render third-party devices like Boxee, Slingbox, and TiVo almost useless for watching cable television.

Boxee claims cable companies like Time Warner Cable could earn hundreds of millions in new revenue leasing an estimated 10-21 million additional set top boxes to their customers nationwide — more than double the existing number.  Boxee also believes the cable industry is effectively trying stop QAM reception — watching digital cable channels over a television equipped with a basic tuner without a set top box.

Consumers faced with a choice between a cable company-owned set top box or an independent third-party tuner like Boxee may find few reasons to consider the latter when it also requires the former to work properly. The additional equipment also represents an increase in energy consumption.  Set top box electricity consumption can rival major home appliances, Boxee says.