Mark Fleischmann

Were you hoping that the CableCARD standard would enable you to ditch your cable box? Four years after cable operators and TV makers signed the historic CableCARD agreement, many consumers are still running into problems, according to FCC filings from the warring cable operators and TV makers. Each side blames the other for the snafus. And they're both worsening the problem: The initial standard is unidirectional, meaning no video-on-demand without the box, so some cable operators are obstructing CableCARD adoption by failing to support it at the head end. But the ever price-conscious TV makers aren't helping by eliminating CableCARD compatibility from their lines and walking away from the problem. For years the conventional wisdom has been that a VOD-capable bidirectional standard would someday heal all wounds. But the video-delivery landscape is changing and now CableLabs, the industry's R&D arm, is approaching digital cable readiness from some new angles. I'll report on them over the next few days.

CableLabs has demonstrated that DVR content can be shared among multiple tru2way set-top boxes and DLNA-certified devices throughout the home.

Cablevision has followed Time Warner Cable's introduction of a live cable TV app with one of its own. But unlike the TWC app, which has some program producers crying foul over unauthorized internet distribution, Cablevision's app uses the company's own Advanced Digital Cable network.

Therefore, Cablevision says, it has the right to distribute programming to iPads "under existing distribution agreements." As a plus, iPad-loving Cablevision TV subscribers needn't get internet service just to use the app. It "allows the iPad to function as a television," says CEO Tom Rutledge.

California has become the first state in the nation to adopt energy efficiency requirements for TVs.