As an unrepentant evangelist for “the cloud,” I’m always excited when someone uses it to provide a better viewing experience for consumers. So I was thrilled to read last week that Time Warner Cable is bringing a cloud-based Electronic Program Guide (an EPG, to those of us in the know) to some of its subscribers.

Why is this awesome? Because those subscribers will be able to enjoy so many things that make it easier and more enjoyable to find content they want to watch. Like, according to Light Reading: Better navigation. Better search capabilities. A better look, with features like cover art. Goodbye grid, hello Web-like experience.

Glenn Britt, the CEO who is driving a culture of innovation at Time Warner Cable, was quoted by CED, “We have no illusions that we can make all of our 14 million legacy set-top boxes sing and dance like an iPad. In fact, it isn’t all that easy to invent a simple way to surf hundreds of channels with the remote control that isn’t a keyboard.”

Making a traditional remote match the experience of an iPad is, without a doubt, a stretch. But I think Glenn’s being modest. Oceanic Time Warner Cable, the Hawaii system that has a reputation as a proving ground for advanced technology, has been using our CloudTV platform to deliver interactive apps to virtually every STB for some time now. CloudTV also has the ability to seamlessly interact with CE devices.

In the not-too-distant future, we’ll see STBs doing cloud-connected tangos with handheld devices that serve as remote controls. But that’s not all. Device synchronization will open the door for operators to deliver an expanded dance card of interactive experiences. Imagine sitting around with your friends and playing poker on TV. The big screen shows the poker table, while each person’s phone or tablet shows the cards in their hand. How about literally slinging video from your smartphone to the TV with the flick of your wrist? Or loading a webpage onto the viewer’s handheld device that allows them to purchase the product being advertised on TV? The possibilities are endless.

Singing and dancing like an iPad? Maybe not, but with the cloud as their virtual brain, STBs can partner with iPads to become even better entertainers.

Some comments by Dan Saunders, Head of Content Services at Samsung Electronics Europe, caught my eye. In this report by videonet, Saunders says that, going forward, the value of a connected TV device will not be based on the OTT content it offers.

In fact, he expects content will be a “negative differentiator.” That is, he predicts that all connected TVs will share a standard baseline of IP content offerings that consumers will grow to expect in such devices. If a device doesn’t feature those offerings, consumers will likely reject it.

Saunders says the user experience—something that often gets forgotten in this “Content is King” world—ultimately will be the differentiator for connected TV devices. According to videonet, he said, “It becomes a user experience issue and that means you have to make it possible for users to find content in an easy and intuitive way that respects the lean-back experience but blends in the lean-forward experience you want when searching for content. ‘Discoverability’ is going to be key moving forwards.”

I tend to agree with Saunders. So far, there is little difference between the content available on connected devices, and that doesn’t look to change drastically any time soon. And the importance of a great navigation experience is not just for connected TV manufacturers; it’s also for cable operators.

As cable looks to expand its amazing VOD empire beyond set-top boxes and into connected devices, the user experience becomes even more important. If a customer is able to choose from multiple cable, satellite and telco providers, all with similar VOD content offerings, right through their TV or game console, then the navigation experience becomes the key differentiator.

I’ll note here, somewhat self-servingly, that by using a cloud-based app platform like ActiveVideo’s CloudTV™, cable operators can retain control of their navigational experience and distribution environment across many such devices, all in one place. For the hardware manufacturers, tying into a platform like CloudTV helps them keep their manufacturing, operation and maintenance costs low—which is even more important if they can’t rely on their content to boost sales.

With the cost of content continuing to soar, building a great user experience seems like money well spent.

You know, sometimes when a company gets huge it’s because it consistently makes the right calls. The largest of all cable companies, Comcast, makes a lot of those, so it’s no shock that they hit a bull’s-eye regarding OTT application development.

Multichannel News recently reported on Comcast’s plans to deliver its Xfinity On Demand VOD service through the Xbox 360 this year, as well as its desire to bring its VOD offerings to PlayStation3, Wii, connected TVs and Roku.

The logical conclusion would be that Comcast wants to bring VOD to every “connected” product out there, and indeed, Sam Schwartz, president of Comcast Converged Products is quoted, “We want to be on screens that consumers want us to be on.” But that’s where it gets interesting.

Because there’s a limit on how ubiquitous even a large company like Comcast could or should be. And that limit is due to platform chaos.

The article says that “Comcast won’t try to emulate Netflix, which makes its service available on more than 200 consumer-electronics devices, because of the expense of maintaining all those platforms.” And it further quotes Schwartz: “I don’t envy Netflix’s maintenance task. What people don’t realize is, once you port to a platform, you’re going to have to live with that device for a long time.”

I’ve been saying exactly that for a long time. For example, here, and here, a little bit here, and what do ya know, here as well. So it’s nice to know that I’m on the same page as an industry leader like Comcast.

Because Comcast is focusing on a few platforms rather than many, it will be able to focus on the important things, like a rich navigation experience. “There’s almost a Chinese wall between the grid, VOD and DVR,” Schwartz tells MCN. “[Xfinity On Demand provides] one, user-centric view of the content.”

Of course, Comcast could take another step forward and embrace a cloud-based HTML5 app platform that enables it to write its Xfinity On Demand app once and potentially run it anywhere.

It’s the next logical step. In fact, I’d say it’s a Comcastic idea.

I’ve made the case for the cloud in the smart TV/connected TV realm many times before. Among the cloud’s many smart TV virtues are that it expands the range of consumer devices that can offer TV apps and OTT content, and it provides a write-once, run-anywhere development and maintenance environment.

Now the cloud has a game-breaking ally in its bid to gain acceptance in the smart TV world: HTML5.

Simply put, we’re inexorably heading towards a world where TV apps are authored in HTML5 and hosted in the cloud.

That is, they won’t be written specifically for a particular brand or model of TV, CE device or cable set-top box. They’ll be written in HTML5. And they won’t end up residing on those end-user devices, as the great majority of them do today. They’ll reside in the cloud.

As a result, the apps will become quicker, more powerful, more ubiquitous, and more used. The end-user devices, in turn, will be less weighed down by proprietary technology, and by memory and storage demands. They’ll receive the apps as streams, rather than downloads. There will also be less of a need to sync devices, since you’ll simply be accessing the same app, just from a different device.

While I’ve been envisioning a cloud-powered smart TV world for some time, HTML5 is poised to turn my vision into a reality.

Why is HTML5 so awesome for smart TV?

• HTML5 standards are managed by a non-corporate entity (the W3C), and are non-proprietary.
• HTML5 utilizes the existing skill sets and tools of an enormous, established development community.
• HTML5 is one of the few technologies that receives nearly ubiquitous support from the big players in technology and media alike. Apple, Google, and even Adobe have endorsed it.
• HTML5 allows developers to create one application that will run on many different devices, including TVs, STBs, PCs, tablets and mobile devices.

For the smart TV space, HTML5 will speed app development cycles, reduce development costs, provide a much larger reach, and make integration of apps with the Web, and Web-connected devices, much smoother.

We’re about to exit the Walled Garden era of smart TV, and enter the Smart TV Everywhere era. Lots of people will be able to make lots of apps and lots of money, and lots of consumers will experience TV like they never imagined.

All because of the dynamic duo of HTML5 and the cloud.

So…

We’re now several years into “over-the-top” (OTT) offerings—that is, video that comes to your TV from an Internet connection, not from traditional cable/satellite operators, broadcasters, or via DVD or Blu-ray Disc. Yet consumers, manufacturers, operators, advertisers, Hollywood and Web developers still haven’t found the promised land.

In fact, OTT is at a major crossroads, and darned if anyone can find a working GPS right now to tell us which way we should go.

After racing to be the first on the block with OTT services everyone seems to be taking a step back and realizing that all of these standalone solutions aren’t well suited for the long haul. Although OTT is here to stay, the economics still don’t make sense, and consumers can’t feel terribly confident in the future of all of these fragmented OTT platforms.

Consider that Netflix, long the undisputed shining star of OTT services, is at a breaking point right now; in fact, it’s broken into separate DVD-by-mail and OTT streaming services and seems to have alienated millions of its most ardent fans—not to mention its investors. Hulu, another popular OTT service, is sorta for sale and faces an uncertain future. Viewsonic has dropped plans to integrate Boxee with their TVs. And Apple TV and Google TV have been, thus far, not what everyone had hoped.

Let’s just say that the hype surrounding OTT has been way ahead of the actual reality.

We’re now in late 2011, and everyone in the smart TV ecosystem still faces a bewildering choice of OTT platforms and services, none of which can deliver all of the content and immediacy of a traditional cable or satellite connection.  So what’s Dr. Edgar’s cure?  Read on:

OTT clients should be thin, and preferably cloud-based. CE manufacturers want to provide competitive features and cash in on the recurring revenue possibilities of OTT, without risking their already slim profit margins. A cloud-based offering reduces BOM (bill of materials) and integration investment, while also increasing reliability and simplifying support.

CE manufacturers need a shared OTT app platform. This would represent a sharp turn for the electronics industry. CE manufacturers are used to going it on their own; their attitude has always been, “let the best technology win.” But consumers who want OTT really care about two things: an easy-to-use and robust interface, and the content they desire. They don’t much care about the platform driving it. That’s why the recently-announced partnership among LG, Sharp, and Philips is highly encouraging. It will help them lower integration costs, while attracting more content providers and advertisers (which is where the real profit is to be made).

OTT needs an app development platform based on widely used and established standards. Adhering closely to web standards like HTML5 leverages the existing skill set of the developer community. It would make it much easier and more cost-effective for content providers and advertisers to develop a critical mass of interactive content.

And while we’re at it, shouldn’t cable and CE finally come together on OTT? It just makes sense. Cable knows customer management and offers outstanding content. CE knows retail and innovation. It’s a win-win as far as I’m concerned.

One thing on which we can agree is this: OTT is a spectacular recipe that’s unfortunately half-baked right now.