INDUSTRY INFO...
EXERPT-
Time Warner Cable, a division of Time Warner Inc., plans to begin offering digital cable services this year. TCI is already offering digital cable in select markets. To receive them, customers rent a digital set-top box from their cable company.
The two companies', through systems directly and indirectly owned,
account for about half of the nation's cable customers.
TCI's existing digital set-top boxes can't pass through broadcasters'
high-definition signals, Mr. Hindery told reporters after the hearing. But the 15 million boxes on order -- some of which could be in homes by March 1999 -- will now be able to pass through high-definition signals and display them on digital TV sets at their fullest quality, Mr. Hindery said.
Originally, those 15 million boxes would not have been able to do this, Mr. Hindery said. But the company altered its plan. The boxes are now being modified. Those boxes will work with new digital sets and existing analog. On an analog TV set, however, a viewer would be able to receive the HDTV show, but would not be watching it in the high-definition format.
Scott |
