When will TELCO's get serious about internet access?
PAIR must rely on TELCO's to implement faster internet access service, and then PAIR can sell lots of product. It does appear that cable is making a big push to grab market share.
Good luck to all with PAIR!
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WorldGate Launches Internet
Service Over Cable TV
by Marc Ferranti, IDG News Service
April 23, 1998
WorldGate Communications today launched its Internet-over-cable vision service in St. Louis, partnering with Charter Communications to offer a method of surfing the Web without a computer.
In this first incarnation of the WorldGate service, users will get bps Internet access through General Instrument cable set-top terminals. Users do not have to purchase or install any hardware, or learn to use any software, WorldGate said.
For a $15.95 monthly fee, Charter Communications customers in St. Louis will get unlimited Internet access, up to six e-mail addresses per household, a special WorldGate wireless keyboard that can be used to surf the Web, and digital audio capability.
WorldGate gives cable operators the option of offering a limited internet-access plan, which does not include the keyboard, for about $5, but Charter preferred to simplify packaging, according to Hal
Krisbergh, WorldGate's president.
The WorldGate software is downloaded from the cable operator's head-end (or cable-router)equipment into the General Instrument set-top box. A General Instrument digital box or one of its new
generation of analog boxes, which are just starting to ship, is required.
Within the next year, General Instrument will supply cable operators nationwide with more than three million additional analog and digital cable set-top terminals that are capable of supporting the WorldGate service. There are already more than a million General Instrument digital boxes in circulation that can be used for the WorldGate service, said Krisbergh.
The WorldGate service also offers users what the company calls Channel Hyperlinking--the ability to link television programming to related Web sites. Using this feature, subscribers can switch back and
forth from the Internet to television programming.
The way it works, said Krisbergh, is that a user watching TV can hit a button to switch to the TV channel's related Web site. If the TV channel has done nothing special to add Internet programming to its programs, the button sends the user to the channel's regular home page. But TV programmers can add links between a TV program and sites that correspond to what the user is watching, Krisbergh said.
WorldGate now has 30 Channel Hyperlinking partners--including major television networks--that are doing special Internet programming, and the company is negotiating with other Hyperlinking partners.
The main difference between WorldGate and Microsoft's WebTV is WorldGate's use of off-the-shelf cable television set-top boxes. Also, the system lets users send upstream signals using cable TV lines.
WebTV is broadcast TV based, uses set-top boxes that are priced starting at $99, and requires a telephone line for an upstream signal.
However, analysts point out, WebTV offers many enhanced services, such as multimedia e-mail, personalized news, a picture-in-picture feature, and automatic notification of TV shows. |
