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Daily news and top headlines for broadband communications engineering and design professionals
VNI and Time Warner Cable sign deal
November 29, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsVideo Networks Inc. (VNI) and Time Warner Cable Adcast have inked a deal for VNI to deliver advertising and other content in a digital format to headends throughout North Carolina. VNI, soon to be renamed Pathfire, is a digital media content distribution and management services provider. VNI's interactive media management service helps cable ad sales offices distribute commercials more efficien...
OpenTV comes to Northern California
November 29, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsUSA Media Group has given OpenTV the go ahead to launch iTV and other interactive services in USA Media Group's Northern California cable system. Scheduled for deployment in 1Q 2001, OpenTV will shoot off services to subscribers like t-commerce (television commerce) on-demand news, weather, entertainment and sports.
Comcast and WorldGate launch iTV
November 28, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsDoing yet another deal, Comcast has teamed up with WorldGate to commercially deploy WorldGate's interactive cable TV services to cable subscribers in Willow Grove, Pa. Comcast is providing WorldGate's Internet TV Service as part of its digital cable television package. For an additional monthly fee, Comcast digital customers can receive e-mail, local content and Internet content.
Comcast welcomes Juno to its pipes
November 28, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsFollowing in the footsteps of AT&T and other large MSOs, Comcast has opened its network to a competing ISP and plans to let Juno Online Services use its network. Juno will be able to access Comcast's pipes to offer high-speed Web surfing to its customers. The deal is expected to be announced on Wednesday at the Western Show in L.
Broadcom snares VisionTech
November 27, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsThe largest cable modem maker, Broadcom, has snagged Israeli chipmaker VisionTech for approximately $776.6 million in stock. Broadcom hopes the buyout will help the company gain technology in the burgeoning sector of personal video recording. This is Broadcom's twelfth acquisition this year. The hot new technology of PVRs lets users freeze live TV broadcasts and replay or rewind a program while...
ReplayTV exits the PVR business
November 27, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsBroadcom is buying in while ReplayTV gets out. The digital video recorder manufacturer has instead decided to license its technology to cable providers and other TV related companies. Those companies can then use the technology to offer digital video recording and VOD services. ReplayTV said it is facing intense competition from other PVR makers, like TiVo and Microsoft's Ultimate TV.
Comcast eyes Wink
November 27, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsWink has been cherry-picked by Comcast, the third largest cable operator, to deliver Wink Enhanced Broadcasting to all of Comcast's 1.5 million digital households over the next three years. Comcast customers will also use the Wink Response Network. Wink iTV lets subscribers interact with programming and ads while they continue to watch TV.
Reuters provides content for OpenTV
November 27, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsOpenTV has signed Reuters to provide original news content for OpenTV's iTV applications. OpenTV customers will receive Reuter's Online Reports featuring national, international, entertainment, business and sports news. The reports will also link to pictures and graphics and be delivered as a multimedia package in NewsML via the Internet.
One touch does it all
November 27, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsInterlink Electronics and PowerTV have hooked up at the Western Show, Nov. 29 – Dec. 1, to demo Interlinks IntuiTouch broadband remote interface technologies - in other words, a new breed of remote control. The technology features a pad centric user interface that enables one touch programming control for guides and on-screen menus, gesture control of entertainment devices and text entry ...
Exploring S-A's interactive experience
November 27, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsScientific-Atlantas Explorer set-tops have been expanded and will be showcased live at the Western Show, Nov. 29 – Dec. 1, booth 1639. The set-tops are customized for all tiers of digital TV, including the ability to operate from a single-based digital network. This gives cable ops the advantage of deploying a variety of set-tops in a single system and delivering various levels of iTV ser...
TI sees huge jump in its modem chip market share
November 26, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsIn less than a year and a half in the cable modem business, Texas Instruments has cornered 30 percent of the market for data over cable service interface specification (DOCSIS) chips. TI estimates it will deliver three million of the nearly 10 million total units expected to ship this year, increasing TI's market share by 600 percent from 1999.
Why wait? iTV is already here.
November 26, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsLiberty Livewire, ACTV, Motorola, OpenTV and Universal Electronics have joined forces to demonstrate existing technology that marries television and the Internet into an interactive television experience. The existing technology means that consumers can enjoy the benefits now without waiting for the deployment of advanced technology.
Agilent buys its own OSS company
November 26, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsAgilent is on a roll. After beating analyst forecasts for fourth quarter earnings, the company has snapped up operations-support-system (OSS) software maker Objective Systems Integrators for about $665 million. Shares in Agilent, a spin-off from Hewlett-Packard Co., closed Friday's shortened session up to $50.
Have a Coke and a smi…polar bear
November 21, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsWhile the family is gathered around the TV this holiday season, watching the REAL Grinch, keep an eye out for the cheery Coke commercials with the amiable polar bear twins. Subscribers with a standards-based iTV enhanced set-top box will be able to interact with the advertising campaign and order a free polar bear stuffed animal from Coke, while supplies last.
Ordering HBO online
November 21, 2000 7:00 pm | by Karen Kessler-Tanaka | CommentsSubscribers/surfers/hermits in Memphis just got lucky. Now they can order all their HBO programming online, see it delivered within minutes and never have to talk to anyone. Subscribers log onto the HBO or Time Warner Cable of Memphis sites and enter their zip codes. They then plug in their choices and can even choose to upgrade their HBO service package.
