Smart TV’s and other devices that use CableCards are going to have a profound impact on how consumers watch television, according to Forrester television analyst James McQuivey. There is a big feature on this emerging technology in today’s New York Times.
I asked James what he thinks of these new cards. He told me it’s going to be significant:
"The CableCard is a silent bomb, waiting to go off. In the short run, most consumers will have no idea what it does or why they would want it. But as the devices they are already buying make a CableCard slot standard, consumers will one day wake up and realize that they are in a much better position to dictate program choices than they have ever been in the past. This will have two effects: a few million consumers will try out CableCards in the next 5 years, but also, the cable companies will work frantically to compete with CableCard devices by offering better services, tighter integration of phone and TV services (think: managing phone messages on the TV during commercial breaks), and cheaper prices. So in the end, CableCard benefits all of us, even those who never get one."
One of the big players in smart TV’s which employ the new card is HP. Below is my interview HP’s Jim Sanduski on the future of convergence and smart tv.
— Andy Plesser
CableCard, 
Forrester, 
James McQuivey, 
Jim Sanduski, 
HP, 
Smart TV, 
Online Video
