Must be trading down on this new information. Cable and Wireless has 7 million subscribers. It would seem that this might be another 2-3 million set-top boxes for GIC.
(UPDATE) Cable & Wireless To Use Set-Top Box Software From Oracle, Netscape
Dow Jones Online News, Tuesday, March 10, 1998 at 23:09
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Cable & Wireless PLC Tuesday announced it has
selected software from an Oracle Corp. affiliate for new digital
cable-television boxes, a badly needed endorsement for one of Microsoft
Corp.'s main competitors in selling Internet technology for the living
room.
The announcement confirmed a story in The Wall Street Journal. The
British telecommunications company said it chose software from Network
Computer Inc. over offerings from Microsoft and other rivals. This is
the first major cable deal for NCI, a Redwood Shores, Calif., company
owned by Oracle and Netscape Communications Corp.
The technology will first be deployed by Cable & Wireless
Communications PLC, Britain's largest cable company, which was formed
last year from the merger of three cable companies and Cable & Wireless'
long-distance telephone operator. Cable & Wireless is the cable
company's largest investor.
Many large computer-industry players are racing to move their
franchises beyond PCs into set-top devices that can tap into the
Internet and carry out other new services. Microsoft appears to have a
leading position in the U.S. market following a tentative agreement with
Tele-Communications Inc., but some foreign companies appear to be
deploying the new digital systems more quickly.
Cable & Wireless Communications plans to invest 100 million ($163.5
million) in digital technology and set-top boxes. It wouldn't disclose
how many boxes it plans to order or how much it is paying NCI for the
software used in the devices, which are expected to be available by
fall.
NCI is styling itself as a more "open" alternative to Microsoft,
meaning that a choice of its set-top box software doesn't lock a cable
vendor into one operating system or hardware. Cable & Wireless said that
was one reason it chose NCI. "We didn't like being tied into a
particular architecture," one official said.
Microsoft is believed to be willing to help cable companies finance
their purchases, though terms of the deal with TCI are still being
negotiated. David Roux, chief executive of the Oracle affiliate, said it
isn't interested in doing that.
Cynthia Brumfeld, an analyst with the research firm Paul Kagan
Associates Inc., said the deal could help NCI get the attention of some
U.S. cable operators. NCI "is having trouble in the U.S.," added Gary
Arlen, president of Arlen Communications Inc., another research concern.
"This shows that the foreign market is much more attractive."
Cable & Wireless Communications plans to modernize its system
gradually. Its set-top boxes will first offer an increased number of TV
channels, scheduled movies and an on-screen channel guide. By 1999,
however, the service is expected to add full-fledged Internet access and
electronic mail.
NCI's software, called DTV Navigator, is based on Netscape's
Internet-browser technology. General Instrument Corp. will supply the
set-top boxes to Cable & Wireless Communications, though the cable
company won't divulge how many units it has ordered.
Microsoft's set-top box software is based on its stripped-down
Windows CE operating system. Microsoft wants its Windows software to
spread beyond the desktop computer market and run everything from
set-top boxes to appliances to combination PC/TV sets. That is the key
strategy of Microsoft in its effort to tighten its grip on portals to
the Internet, where electronic commerce and publishing are expected to
explode. Microsoft wants to milk future profits from facilitating the
flow of goods and services over the Internet.
But Microsoft competitors, broadcasters and cable providers are
determined to prevent any maker of software or chips from becoming
annointed as a proprietary standard, as Microsoft and Intel Corp. have
become the prevailing standard in PCs.
In January, Tele-Communications Inc. announced agreements for its
set-top boxes that will pit Microsoft against rival Sun Microsystems
Inc. TCI selected Microsoft to supply at least five million units of
Windows CE but the cable giant also licensed Sun's Java software as
another way for software programmers to create applications for the
boxes. |
