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Daily news and top headlines for broadband communications engineering and design professionals
Aveo's matchmaking Attune Service
December 18, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsAveo has created a service that matches subscribers with broadband services that are available in their area. Aveo 's Attune service will deliver "Intelligrams" about Internet access services to customers. The "Intelligrams" let customers determine whether broadband service is provided in their area.
Buford to beta test new headend
December 17, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsTexas-based cable operator Buford Media Group will beta test Coax 's new programmable headend. Buford has been a willing "guinea pig" before, being the first small cable operator to test Headend in the Sky (HITS), AT&T and Motorola's project. The new headend technology, dubbed MISTIC, is designed to allow both large and small cable MSOs in rural areas to deploy two- way digital services.
OpenTV expands in Germany
December 17, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsOpenTV sees a major market opportunity in Germany and is making plans to deploy broadband interactive TV services to more networks in that country. The company is focusing on creating iTV applications crafted specifically for the German market. OpenTV is working with German network operators like FUN and PrimaCom, who are currently using OpenTV to deploy satellite and broadband cable iTV services.
Dataquest report says telecom may be deregulated
December 17, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsA report released from Dataquest a division of Gartner Group, suggests that the soon-to-be-inaugurated Bush administration will be a more hands-off government than that of the past eight years, and telecom deregulation could result. Not holding back its opinions, Dataquest analysts say that the Clinton administration has had a stranglehold on the burgeoning telecommunications industry, causing ...
Show me the money. Show me digital TV.
December 14, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsOvum, a telecommunications research company, reports that digital TV connections will boom from 62 million in 2001 to 350 million in 2006. Revenues from all those new connections, says Ovum, will be worth upwards of $100 billion. The study shows $45 billion from t-commerce and $60 billion from gaming, education and information.
Broadband will grow, become cheaper
December 14, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsOne of the first signs of the AOL/Time Warner merger may be more broadband at cheaper prices. Within three years, consumers could be watching CNN and full-length movies through their AOL portals on their PCs. AOL is expected to make upgrading Time Warner's cable system a top priority, making music, movies and other features faster and more accessible to Time Warner's 20 million subscribers.
Online banking, no PC required
December 13, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsIt could be another blow to the PC world. Scotiabank and Rogers Cable will offer Canadian subscribers an online banking method that doesn't require a PC. Subs have banking and brokerage information as well as Internet, e-mail and online shopping access through their TVs. A wireless keyboard lets Scotiabank customers flip between watching TV and surfing to reconciling statements and more via a c...
Yesterday; modems, today, digital set-tops
December 13, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsDigital set-tops are poised for phenomenal growth. According to Allied Business Intelligence, the number of installed boxes will grow to 339 million by 2005. Yesterday, CED reported on the major growth of modems. Digital set-top growth can be attributed to the popularity of digital cable service. By 2005, the cable platform will account for 40 percent of the total worldwide installed based of d...
Corning hits earnings bulls eye
December 13, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsIn a month of company-issued earnings warnings and analyst downgrades, Corning has some positive news. The company says it is not only on target for 4Q earnings, but is going to hit the high side of estimates. Good news for Corning investors. Corning president John Loose says he expects revenue to be up nearly 30 percent, to approximately $9.
Eenie, meenie, miney, mo
December 13, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsSometimes choice is a difficult thing. AT&T is still struggling with which approach it should take to fulfill FCC requirements on cable ownership, even though the deadline to decide is tomorrow. Rumors are circulating wildly between either spinning off Liberty Media, the programming arm of AT&T that's headed by John Malone, or selling off AT&T's 25 percent stake in Time Warner.
We'll do anything, just please say yes
December 13, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsThis is a merger they really want, and they got it. FTC approval was given Thursday to the mega-merger between AOL and Time Warner (TW) after the two companies committed to opening their cable systems across the nation to their Internet competitors. This last move apparently satisfied Federal Trade Commission regulators that the deal is good for competition.
DOCSIS cable modems taking off
December 12, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsDOCSIS certified cable modems are shipping like crazy, up 67 percent in the second half of 2000. According to Cable Datacom News, more than 2 million units shipped in 3Q. Motorola has shipped the most — 540,000 in North America and 310,00 internationally. However, Cahners In-Stat group predicts that the cable modem growth will continue but slow a bit in 4Q 2000.
Corning amplifying production
December 12, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsJust a few weeks after Corning announced it was boosting its optical fiber production, the company is sinking $150 million into expanding production facilities in its Benton Park Plant in Benton Township, Pa., which will add approximately 2,000 jobs to the area. The plant there manufactures erbium-doped amplifier modules and dispersion compensation modules, which Corning wants to increase produ...
Pace releases super fast set-top
December 12, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsPace is releasing its fastest ever ONdigital set-top box to viewers in the U.K. Now subscribers can zip from on-screen menus and programming to channel changing and email faster than before. The set-top also extends the marginal coverage area and makes reception more robust for ONdigital's digital terrestrial TV services, according to Pace.
Chinese broadband network growth continues
December 11, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsChinese broadband network penetration continues to grow. Century Vision Network has inked a deal with three new joint ventures to further introduce China to broadband cable services. The three new ventures in the Shaanxi, Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces bring Century Vision Networks' projects to a total of five, as well as adding another 10 million subscribers.
