Time Warner Cable hasn’t exactly set land speed records with their deployment of DOCSIS 3.0 technology, only deploying faster services “tactically,” in markets where the company competes with Verizon FiOS. In New York City, where Time Warner Cable competes with FiOS, they have upgraded — and are now bragging that they have 150 HD channels to Verizon’s 133. Verizon was quick to fire back, insisting that Time Warner Cable only has more channels due to Cablevision’s vice-like grip on local sports programming:”Time Warner Cable can make a claim of having a few more HD channels than Verizon FiOS, but our service still blows them out of the water with more VOD, more HD VOD, more interactive features, better picture quality, faster Internet speeds, the only place to get Facebook, Twitter and YouTube on TV – the list goes on.” In addition, the cable operator’s claim of having all nine New York sports teams in HD “is only possible because of an FCC loophole used by Cablevision Systems through which they share the HD feeds for some of these channels with their cable brethren, but withhold the channels from us.”Of course new FCC rules will eventually force cable operators to stop hoarding access to local sports programming, though regulatory progress on this front seems typically glacial. Meanwhile, since only about a third or less of Time Warner Cable markets see FiOS competition, most Time Warner Cable markets aren’t seeing this kind of fighting for consumer affection whatsoever.
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