I can tell you that any opportunity I have to dump that piece of garbage Motorola DVR sitting in my entertainment center is a welcome change, and I already have

I can tell you that any opportunity I have to dump that piece of garbage Motorola DVR sitting in my entertainment center is a welcome change, and I already have an XB360. I don't think the level of frustration we (our household) feels with the cable provided DVR can be underestimated. We bought a PS3 for the livingroom for two reasons: Netflix and Blu-ray. I'm not sure if you've used it, but HBO released an excellent app for the iPad called HBO GO. I can watch my shows on demand by supplying my Xfinity login and password. This is another example of a game changing piece of software that relies on an Xfinity account. Right now you're wondering, "How is this a game changer? I still need a cable subscription!" It's a game changer if you assume that the success of Netflix, Hulu Plus, etc are a foregone conclusion, and that the cable networks were going to take this lying down. This represents a pretty major shift for cable companies. Historically, the cable business model was to buy channels from content providers and resell them to a customer subscriber base at a mark-up, along with revenue from local advertising stuffed in to their line up. The cable companies had a lot of leverage in this scenario, because they were responsible for delivering the 'last mile' to the customer. That copper coax coming in to your house was like a ball and chain preventing customers from going anywhere. Satellite companies are in the same spot. They have multi-billion dollar satellites in geostationary orbits. Not easy to replace. The internet is the first big challenger to this model. With an internet connection, anyone can stream content in to your home, and they don't have to pay for the last mile. This is the crux of the net neutrality debate. Cable companies and content providers don't like this new world order, because they can't protect their high prices. Back to this whole XBox partnership. Remember that cable providers don't have to offer the best product, they just need to make customers' lives comfortable enough that they don't cut the cord. I was delighted to see that the HBO GO app worked easily. Likewise with the Xfinity TV app. They recently added On Demand streaming capability. Two very large incentives for moving to a service like Netflix just went out the window. I can get the content on my iPad now and keep paying the same thing, where as before, I couldn't get it at all. I'm not saying it's a better deal, but I am saying that the better deal isn't everything. There's a high level of uncertainty in non-tech-savvy users. "Will I be able to use this thing?" "Will it work like my TV used to?" These are important questions for consumers. Xfinity is in a good position, because they can roll these services out to consumers and let them try them along side their traditional television safety blanket.