Cable ONE Taps TiVo to Fast-Forward Television Experience

Cable ONE may not be what many people think of when it comes to cable television, but for nearly a quarter million customers in 19 different states, it tops the list. But with a growing number of competitors in the field, and plenty of cable subscribers turning off the television and turning to the Internet for their entertainment, firms like Cable ONE are eager to distinguish themselves as service providers.

Cable ONE is turning to TiVo (News - Alert) to do just that.

While Cable ONE, the tenth-largest provider of cable services in the United States, already has a pretty nice lineup of services – especially the increasingly-standard triple play of phone, Internet and television – it’ll be stepping up their offerings to include TiVo DVR services starting in 2013.

What prompted the move to offer TiVo services – and by extension products – was that Cable ONE rapidly discovered that the way its customers consumed video was a rapidly changing proposition. This in turn prompted Cable ONE to bring out the TiVo lineup and give their subscribers an easier way to watch video when they wanted to watch it, not when the content providers decided to show content.

The addition of TiVo products allows Cable ONE users to not only time-shift their content as they like, along with the added ability to keep content for later on hand, but discover new content by giving users access to the Cable ONE catalog. Additionally, users can get access to IP content – whether over-the-top or video-on-demand based – on any screen they have available.

That opens up the wider range of content viewing options to include even tablets and smartphones, a section of video watching that's growing in popularity.

This gives Cable ONE users a lot more in the way of options when it comes to their television viewing, not to mention their overall freedom to watch the things they want to watch when they want to do so.

Of course it's not on par with online services like Netflix and Hulu (News - Alert) Plus, where users can pick whatever they like – at least from what's available at the time – but it's certainly a step in a much more convenient direction for users.

Still, it's quite clear that cable companies are generally getting the message cable cutting is sending. It's no longer enough to be a provider; to succeed, cable companies have to offer more value, and do it in such a fashion that’s convenient for users. It's not enough anymore just to show content and wait for the checks to arrive. Cable companies have to bring in the services that their subscribers want, because these days, it's getting rapidly easier to stop mailing in that monthly check and instead switch to other, much less expensive services.

But if the value keeps going up, the cable cutting movement may well find itself less relevant, and cable companies could be getting their subscribers back and then some.