Sony executives say the agreement with Bright House Networks, Cablevision, Charter, Comcast, Cox Communications, and Time Warner will pave the way for TV sets equipped with Tru2way software to access digital video-recording capabilities, video on demand and interactive programming guides.
“This marketplace agreement is good news for consumers,” said Edgar Tu, senior vice president of Sony Electronics. “A national plug-and-play digital cable standard for interactive TV receivers, recorders and other products that is transferable and viable wherever you live is ideal for today's mobile society.”
The Slide Toward Oblivion
Samsung Electronics recently unveiled several new Tru2way-capable products, including HD-DVR and set-top devices. Even better, Samsung's launch of an LCD TV with Tru2way built into the box signals that the venerable set-top box could begin sliding toward oblivion as soon as this year's holiday shopping season.
Sony's agreement with the nation's top cable giants, which together serve more than 105 million U.S. homes, will eliminate cable set-top box deployment headaches and maintenance costs for cable-TV operators. Another perk: The deal will end those pesky monthly set-top rental fees that many consumers hate.
“The goals of Tru2way are to provide a universal, national platform that will enable consumers to receive cable's interactive services without a set-top box,” noted Joy Sims, a spokesperson for the National Cable TV Association. “And the same national platform will allow content creators to develop new applications that can be deployed to all systems [with] Tru2way, using the 'write once, run anywhere' philosophy.”
Sparking Innovation
For example, Tru2way is expected to create a national footprint for developers of interactive programs and advertisements, allowing them to produce products that will work on cable systems in nearly every U.S. market. Moreover, the technology fulfills another cable-industry goal by incorporating secure digital interfaces that protect copyright owners while giving consumers certain home-recording rights.
Future offerings may include interactive ads and on-screen Web browsing. For example, earlier this month, Zodiac Interactive showed off new technology that supports applications for enabling local search, weather, traffic, sports scores and local news to be displayed on-screen without disrupting the TV-viewing experience.
Sony's announcement has received support from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), which had been backing a rival standard known as DCR+. Regarding DCR+, CEA spokesperson Meghan Henning would only say that right now it is hard to tell “whether alternative technical proposals for cable-equipment compatibility will be chosen by some cable operators or equipment manufacturers in the future.”
CEA Chief Executive Gary Shapiro said his organization is pleased that the technical challenge has been resolved without the need for regulatory intervention and added that the CEA is looking forward “to working with our cable colleagues to ensure Americans across the country have access to high-value cable content while using the equipment of their choosing.”
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