Cox Communications and ABC recently announced a trial of advanced video on demand, through which four of the network’s top primetime shows and select sports programs from ABC and ESPN will be available on Cox’s On DEMAND service. Starting this fall, “Desperate Housewives,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Lost” and “Ugly Betty” will be available to Cox’s On DEMAND customers in Orange County, Calif., the day after their broadcast premiers. The trial, and the fact that fast-forward capability will be disabled for these shows, has generated a lot of attention and questions. Here, Cox’s Senior VP of Programming Bob Wilson, responds to questions about the ABC venture and its implications.

1. Bob, what’s driving the VOD deal with ABC?

This is a step in the direction of taking VOD to the next level. It will put some of ABC’s most popular and valued shows, which are some of the highest rated in all of television, on Cox’s On DEMAND service the day after the programs first air. For Cox, it gives our customers enhanced access to free, over-the-air, premium broadcast content without either Cox or the customer paying incrementally more for it, and for ABC it will enhance the return on programming investment by providing extended program access in a way that protects and potentially enhances advertising value.

Okay, this one may scream self-promotion, but we simply couldn’t ignore an article in the current BusinessWeek, “A Cable Company People Don't Hate – How Cox is keeping customers happy and stealing business from the phone giants.” Yes, we cringe a bit at digs like the one in the headline, but, then again, we have to admit it’s a fair dig since Cable’s customer service record hasn’t always been sterling. But back to the present: the article addresses not only Cox Communications', but the industry’s, successful entry into the phone biz and our push into wireless. Here’s a snippet:

There's a ton of money to be made in phone service--about $60 billion of yearly revenue just on voice plans for U.S. consumers. And don't cable companies know it. For years they have been laying miles of new fiber-optic cable and doing everything they can to steal chunks of that business from the phone giants. So far they've managed to pull away about $4.6 billion in phone revenues, according to Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

In the scramble for every customer, one cable outfit seems to have hit upon a formula that works: beating the phone companies at customer service. In recent surveys conducted by J.D. Power & Associates Inc., owned by Business Week parent The McGraw-Hill Companies, Atlanta-based Cox Communications outscores traditional phone providers such as AT&T, Verizon Communications, and Sprint Nextel. On a variety of metrics, from network performance and reliability to billing and cost, customers in several regions describe Cox as their preferred provider.

Techdirt has a post about the BusinessWeek article, here.

There are some intriguing findings in new research on teen Internet use that Cox and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) released today. Generally, it seems parents are talking to their teens more and more about Internet Safety. And, generally, teens are listening and are curbing their risky online behavior – although some poor choices continue. John Walsh, Cox’s partner in the Take Charge program and well-known fighter for children’s safety, will talk about the findings in a webcast today that’s open to everyone – to register, just click here ). Afterward, the replay will be available here.

The full findings are here. Some highlights:
• Nearly seven of 10 teens regularly receive personal messages online from people they don’t know.
• Teens readily post personal info online – in fact, 64% post photos or videos of themselves. Far more females than males post personal photos or videos of themselves.

Things are in full Vegas swing as the Cable Show kicks off. In one of yesterday's more interesting panels, Turner’s Coleman Breland offered an apt analogy for the dynamics of the cable industry. Keeping things interesting and lighthearted in a potentially tense session on programming which touched on new platforms, the threat and opportunity of the Internet, and challenges to traditional revenue models for content, Breland compared cable companies (programmers and operators) to members of a rock band who find themselves struggling to get along after reaching uber-success.

He explained how musicians in a rock band start out creating music together, working together to achieve success, and also partying together. In the beginning, the members of the band aren’t necessarily that good at what they do individually, but together they do something that resonates. They achieve success, and over time they become better at their craft. With success comes the pressure of expectations for continued success, and individual members become restless and want to try new things. He suggested the importance of the band members allowing their colleagues the room to grow. The point, he said, was that the members of the cable industry had been very successful together and could continue to be so. He pointed to the Stones and the Beatles and noted that the Stones were the model since they were still making lots of money together.

Cox’s Greater Louisiana operation hosted a Teen Summit on Internet Safety this week in Baton Rouge with more than 200 parents and teens from around the state. The students attended workshops to learn Internet safety tips and discussed reasons why teens take risks online by sharing personal information. Following the summit, the teen delegates met with lawmakers to advocate for Internet safety education.

Miss America 2007 Lauren Nelson, Cox's Internet safety partner, participated in the Summit and shared that when she was 13, she and her friends provided personal info online to someone who ended up being an online predator. (Fortunately, the situation was defused without incident.) She also gave the audience tips on how to be safer on the Web. This week, it was erroneously reported that Miss America would not testify against online predators that she helped catch during a recent sting broadcast on “America’s Most Wanted” (FOX). During interviews with local media in Baton Rouge, she set the record straight that she would testify and had always planned to testify.

One of the most powerful aspects of the Summit was hearing many of the kids commit to making changes in their Internet activities, after learning more about the potential risks. The Summit is part of Cox's companywide Take Charge initiative that helps parents understand how to use parental controls for the TV and Internet and encourages teens to be safer online.

New Orleans is definitely back in business, and Cable is helping spread the word. Today, 12 cable companies announced a donation of more than $12 million in airtime to promote New Orleans tourism. The Cox-led program will place tourism commercials on cable channels nationwide. The spots feature stars like John Goodman and Wynton Marsalis sharing what they love about New Orleans and directing viewers to www.NewOrleansOnline.com for travel info. The New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation (NOTMC) estimates the donation alone will deliver $1.3 billion in economic impact to the area. Mayor Ray Nagin, himself a former cable guy (he was General Manager of Cox’s New Orleans operation), certainly understands the power of the in-kind donation. “On behalf of everyone who calls New Orleans home, even those who remain relocated, I give heartfelt thanks to Cox and their cable peers for this incredible gift,” he said.