With all of the talk lately of “cord cutting” and “cable killers,” there’s also been some chatter lately about cable’s push to improve the customer experience. Once you get beyond the catchy alliterative terms, it seems there are more and more examples—anything from on-screen TV guides to online speeds to static-free phones—of ways that the cable companies are moving to deliver innovative products.

Given the mixed reviews of some of the latest Web-to-TV devices, cable’s timing is impeccable. But I believe it can be enhanced by more closely linking the customer’s experience with cable’s massive wealth of content. Here’s where I think companies like ActiveVideo can really enhance the cable customer experience by enabling operators to deliver additional content and apps from the cloud.

Our message to cable operators is that you can put as much content in the cloud as you’d like, and make it as easy for the customer to retrieve as changing a channel. No new devices. No home theater system integrations. No keyboards. Plus the best image quality available and all of the live sports and premium content you’d ever want.

I concede that OTT (over the top) can be fascinating…if you really want to work at it. But frankly, the idea of “working at” television is the last thing most people want to do at the end of the day. In most cases, they’d rather immerse themselves in services that demand little effort and deliver top-notch experiences.

With the availability of features like those mentioned above, it’s clear that operators really are getting that concept. It’s not going to stop competitors from coming out of the woodwork, but by delivering cloud-based content to enhance an already terrific customer experience, cable operators will make it more difficult than ever for consumers to cut that cord.

Microsoft recently made some noise about making another attempt to enter the TV market, this time via the Xbox. Unlike its past attempts (we all remember WebTV, which unfortunately is best known today as a geek-chic punch line, even though our industry learned a lot from it), Microsoft may have a puncher’s chance this time.

After all, the very popular Xbox is already in millions of homes. The key to Microsoft’s success, however, very well could boil down to whether it uses this opportunity to bridge the divide between cable operators and “over-the-top” content providers, rather than widen it.

Who knows what Microsoft is really planning? The rumor mill is rife with contradiction right now. Some predict Microsoft will try to partner with cable operators with a TV Everywhere play; others believe Redmond will try to form its own content relationships. My view is that Microsoft would find much more success partnering with the cable operators.

I know, I know. Shouldn’t this be about cord-cutting? Why play with cable?

Perhaps my view is best explained by looking at professional athletes. Someone like Michael Jordan made basketball look so easy, so fluid, anyone thought they could do it. Peyton Manning makes it seem like a frenetic, change-it-at-the-line system is all that’s needed to excel at quarterback—until you watch someone else try it.

Fact is, television is a specialty. It looks easy because broadcasters and cable/satellite/telco operators have been working at it for a long time, and have made it seem easy.

Microsoft can succeed where its rivals have—relatively speaking—failed. Instead of trying to re-engineer the cable headend or beat them at their own game, they can invite the operators to bring their best players onto the Xbox playing field. By partnering with the cable industry for their premium content, and using the broadband connection of the Xbox to bring a wealth of Web-based content to the table, Microsoft can make “over-the-top” more viable than ever, while making cord-cutting more irrelevant than ever.

Of course, someday Microsoft will want to break out of the box, and grow its media brand… and the Cloud will be there.

When it comes to leading the way with innovative new business models, Netflix is without peer. Already, it has forever changed how people rent movies—and others have wisely followed suit.

Now, Netflix has decided to use the cloud as its primary warehouse and distribution source. It’s a model that I frequently promote, and I hope others in the service provider community will adopt it when (not if) Netflix finds as much success with it as everything else it’s ever tried.

Notably, Netflix is offering incentives to its customers to join the cloud, too. By jacking up its subscription price for DVDs and lowering its subscription price for digital streams, it’s a no-brainer for movie buffs. Really, everybody wins: Netflix will save money as its need to store and forward DVD hard copies decreases, while its customers will enjoy the convenience and instant gratification that streaming from the cloud provides.

It’s not a total slam dunk yet for Netflix, however. At present, the company must develop, test and update hundreds of versions of its app for each of the many different devices to which its content will be streamed—a time consuming and expensive process.

But the burden on Netflix’s developers will likely get lighter as more CE manufacturers join the cloud, as Netflix already has. When those manufacturers recognize the benefits of moving the “brains” of their products out of their physical devices and into the cloud, service providers like Netflix won’t need to develop to as many device-based platforms.

It only ever takes one successful model to put everyone on the same page. Netflix has a history of being the successful model—or at least the first to move forward with the successful model. When (again, not if) both device makers and service providers move into the cloud, the current multiplicity of formats—and the myriad difficulties associated with that situation—will fade away.

That’s just the technology, of course. Here’s the part that I really love: If everything’s in the cloud, you’ll have no need to store any content in the home. DVDs and their associated clutter will disappear from your home as rapidly as CDs did with the advent of MP3 players, and as books are doing with the rise of e-readers.

Less clutter means more room for the things you really want to do—like entertain guests, paint, write music… heck, maybe you could play soccer in the house with the all the space you’d save.

This week I want to throw everyone a big KISS. That’s capitalized because it’s an acronym for Keep It Simple Stupid. It’s a sweet message we too often forget.

The big debate over cord cutters—if they’re real or imaginary—made me think about KISS. I won’t step into the debate about whether cord cutters are real or just figments of the active imaginations of over-the-top content producers. I will get into what it takes to be a cord cutter: fortitude, persistence and more than a little masochism. Cord cutting is like driving on the back roads to avoid the turnpike tolls. You’ll get to the same place but it might take a little longer and you’re guaranteed to run into more than the occasional stop sign or red light.

We all want or need to take that back road every so often. Maybe it’s for the adventure; maybe it’s to duck the toll; or maybe it’s just because we want to prove how damned smart and hip we are. On the other hand, taking the back road can wear thin after a while.

Here’s a pop quiz—or mom quiz if you prefer. How many of you actually enjoy texting with your phone? Be honest. Unless you have the dainty hands of a nine-year-old pianist, the physical task of texting with a smart phone ranks up there with listening to Miley Cyrus talk about how much she admires Britney Spears. It’s painful.

On the other hand, it’s fun to text. Is there anyone out there—and we’re being honest here—who wouldn’t toss that phone into the nearest recycling bin if someone came along with a better way to type the text?

The same goes for cord cutting. Right now finding television content and other Internet data involves searches and widgets and clandestine moves using phones and keyboards and remote controls. The content is there; the end result is worthwhile; the trip is a hassle but it’s fun to show you can do it.

Fortunately, we are just at the start of the trip. Smart people are investing big dollars and energy into smoothing connected TV. It starts with storing the content in the Internet cloud and it will end, eventually, with a device that’s smart enough to hand you the key to start it up and the GPS to guide you where you need to go quickly, efficiently and, sure, probably with a little toll.

That’s the secret of keeping it simple. Simple is for everyone, and it’s how the Internet and all the wonders of its content will eventually end up on everybody’s TV.

Just Keep It Simple Stupid and the rest will work itself out.