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Daily news and top headlines for broadband communications engineering and design professionals
Merry Christmas…not(2)
December 20, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsRCN gets the award for crummy employee Christmas gifts. The cable system overbuilder handed out pink slips to 70 people just before the holidays when it revealed that it would scale back its operations, a company spokeswoman said. RCN says the reason for the pink slips is its capital is drying up. RCN was focused on an aggressive and successful agenda of overbuilding existing cable systems with...
Get your VOD from Blockbuster - at home
December 19, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsNow playing in select cities: "Video-on-Demand," brought to you by Blockbuster and Enron Broadband Services. Couch potatoes and movie buffs in Seattle, Portland, Ore. and Salt Lake City will be the first broadband subscribers to rent movies directly from their televisions using the new on-demand service.
ZapMedia and EarthLink zapping consumers digital entertainment
December 19, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsMaybe not in time for Christmas, but soon after, ZapMedia and EarthLink will deliver ZapMedia's ZapStation hardware reference design and broadband digital entertainment to consumers. The ZapStation hardware reference design is a convergence product that delivers multimedia content to users' home entertainment systems through a broadband connection.
China Broadband buys Century Vision Network
December 19, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsChina Broadband is updating its name to go with its recent successes. The broadband service provider in China will wholly acquire Century Vision Cable (CVN) and adopt China Convergent as its new corporate name. CVN utilizes the existing cable infrastructure of its PRC joint venture partners and combines its two-way interactive technology and set-top boxes to provide broadband entertainment, per...
Cable MSOs branching out into other businesses
December 19, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsIf the Whos down in Who-ville had had home security, that old Grinch wouldn't have gotten past the first chimney. Realizing the value in keeping the Grinch and regular thieves away, Cox, Comcast, Adelphia, Coditel, Cablevision, Rogers and Shaw are all MSOs investing in @Security Broadband, a company developing broadband home security service.
Terayon telling same sad story
December 18, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsThe steep downward trend in tech stocks continues. Terayon is another one of many companies to cut its revenue projections for 4Q 2000. Not only is Terayon downgrading its estimates, the company says it expects to post a hefty loss. The company blames slowing growth and many order cancellations for its cable and satellite products and systems.
Time Warner issues its own earnings warning
December 18, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsThe flush has worn off the merger approval victory Time Warner shares with AOL, and Time Warner (TW) is announcing less than glowing 4Q earnings. The mega-media giant, which will be merging with AOL, reports the earnings slide is because of weaker ad revenue from its cable networks and a downturn in both its movie and music units.
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...
