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The cable box, a crucial part of home theaters for decades, might be on the way out. Casual TV watchers say it's easier to find something to watch through online services such as Netflix and Hulu than it is to flip through hundreds of channels in hopes of finding something interesting. Other viewers complain that the boxes are poorly programmed and difficult to use. Even Congress doesn't particularly like the cable box: Senators Ed Markey (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) recently decried the high cost most customers pay to rent one from their provider.
Cable companies are of two minds about this trend. Some, such as Comcast, are trying to find ways to make cable boxes better. Instead of ugly units with clumsy remote controls, they're scrambling to produce sleeker boxes loaded with software that makes it easier to get straight to TV shows and movies.
Are the cable companies missing the forest for the trees?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by drussell on Tuesday November 10 2015, @04:08AM
People seem to have forgotten that the "cable box" was basically just a scam to get you to have to buy hardware from the cable company instead of just using the tuner in your TV. Even after going from analog to digital, there is absolutely no reason the digital tuner in a modern TV could not recieve a full HD signal using the built in tuner except that the cable companies want everything encrypted with their own proprietary encryption to force you to buy a box and lock down what you can watch.
Good riddance!