Cox wireless bundle could be game changer: (Or how I fell in love with the TV again)

A few recent developments have made me believe that Cox Communications’ wireless offering can be a game changer for the industry. First, I started to watch the TV shows I wanted to watch a few months ago. Second, I watched a Huawei demonstration at CTIA about how the TV remote control can do a lot of fancy things that people often predict a wireless handset can do. Third, I listened to AT&T talk about how its U-Verse customers can program their DVRs from their handsets.
I’ve always thought Cox certainly had the potential to pick up some wireless customers once it made the $500 million commitment to buy 700 MHz wireless spectrum. I’ve bought the argument that cable companies need a wireless play to remain relevant in an industry that increasingly offers service bundles to keep customers. But in my own world, I use Qwest for my Internet service and wireline phone service and Comcast for digital cable, and they both do a fine job, but I don’t feel any allegiance to either company. The status quo is fine for me. I do feel bound to my wireless provider, but more because of in-network calling between family members than anything else. So I figure Cox’s wireless service will appeal to people like my friend Lori, who constantly switches service providers based on the best bundle, or people who are unhappy with their wireless carrier or those who like the idea of a broadband stick for Internet access as part of their bundle. (After using Clearwire’s WiMAX service at CTIA, I could easily be part of that group once Denver is built out.) But is that segment of the population enough to make Cox a powerhouse in the markets where it operates? I don’t know.
However, a few months ago, we finally broke down and got a DVR. I maintained with four TVs and four people in the house, we watch too much TV anyway, etc. But really I was the one sacrificing my TV time because “The Office” and many of the other shows I like are completely inappropriate for my kids. Thus, if we watch TV together, we are stuck with the likes of “American Idol” and “Dancing with the Stars,” or sports or cartoons. More often than not, my husband heads to the basement to watch sports and my son heads upstairs to watch Cartoon Network. Once we got the DVR, it took all of about one minute for everyone to fall in love with it. We rewind, we fast-forward, we record, we erase each other’s shows to record our own and we buy movies. For better or worse, the TV is back as the centerpiece of family time many nights at our house because we can all watch “American Idol” as a family, knowing that our other favorite shows are being recorded. AT&T’s new ads for U-Verse underscore all of the cool ways you can watch TV these days.
At CTIA’s big show last month, Huawei, which is building Cox’s CDMA network, demonstrated an offering that lets the TV remote do all sorts of amazing things like share programs with friends, chat with people on your buddy list while watching TV, video call (which I don’t get, but some people might like) and a bunch of other stuff that connects the TV, wireless devices and the PC. Huawei was showing the demo to highlight the services that can be offered using LTE and an all-IP core – and for the record did not comment on Cox’s plans for the service. But certainly Cox plans to battle in the hyper-competitive wireless space using its strength in TV.
AT&T’s U-verse offering makes my DVR service look dated. It can record four shows at once and you can pause a recorded show on one TV and start to watch it on another, among other things. Again, this wouldn’t have resonated with me a few months ago, but last night I was peeved I couldn’t watch “Dancing with the Stars” while recording “Big Bang Theory,” “Life Unexpected” and “Total Drama Island.” (It seems everything we like to watch is on at 8 p.m., and nothing is on an hour later.)
Of course, none of this is offered in my market yet, and sticker shock could be a deal breaker, but all other things being equal, the company with the best bundle – whether it’s primary business is wireless, cable or something else – will thrive going forward.