TWC’s Britt: ‘STBs to become extinct’
May 22, 2012
Cable set-tops will become extinct, to be replaced by smart TVs and other IP-connected devices such as gaming consoles, Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt has suggested at The Cable Show in Boston.
During the event’s opening panel session, moderator Erin Burnett asked if set-top boxes would “go the way of the dodo”. Britt answered in the affirmative, admitting that people from STB vendors Cisco and Motorola Mobility “probably don’t want to hear that”.
Britt suggested that CE devices would allow the cable industry to offer subscribers a better user interface than those that it could offer through digital cable STBs. According to Britt, the cable industry’s video platform had worked well for a long time, “but it’s somewhat archaic. Few people can write software to it,” he noted.