Transforming Television
By Peggy Conger

New viewing options

In fact, that kind of choice and control is what digital cable is all about.

Digital cable is fostering a boom in programming choices. With more channels available, cable TV networks have taken their most popular programming genres and built new digital networks around them. If you enjoy Discovery Channel, for example, you can now watch Discovery Health, Discovery Times, Discovery Kids, Discovery Home and Discovery HD Theater on your digital cable service.

Premium networks like HBO, Showtime and Starz! have subscription-on-demand options that let digital cable customers access those networks’ movies and original shows whenever they want. Still other networks let digital cable subscribers order up dozens of on-demand shows free of charge.

Sports fans can buy exclusive packages featuring National Football League, National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball teams, and in some locations, NASCAR fans can order up a driver’s-eye view of the week’s NASCAR race from cameras placed inside the cars.

With sports leading the way, HD is inspiring a new crop of viewing options. ESPN HD and other sports networks offer hundreds of sporting events in high definition. HD channels focused on news, sports, movies, local issues, fashion, travel, animation and more are on the way.

And the two-way capability of digital cable is just beginning to be tapped. Digital cable customers in some areas can already shop for a car, buy tickets to a Broadway show, play video games, and customize their own news, stocks, sports or weather feeds with their digital TV signal. Enhanced TV options let viewers play director by switching camera angles during live sporting events. But the real destination of interactive television? The seamless melding of the computer and TV experiences.

And that brings us back to that remote control device. Not too long ago, its most advanced feature was to beep so you could find it in the couch cushions. Now, thanks to digital cable, it literally puts thousands of entertainment and communications options – and an interactive future just now being imagined – at your fingertips.

Peggy Conger is a freelance journalist who has written extensively about the cable telecommunications industry. Her work has appeared in the Denver Post, the Los Angeles Times, and AdWeek.