AtHome to boost video capacity of Internet service
biz.yahoo.com
>> High-speed Internet service AtHome Network Inc. and video software maker RealNetworks Inc. on Friday unveiled plans for a system to improve the quality of videos sent over the Internet.
>>The deal calls for AtHome, which delivers Internet programming at high speeds over cable television systems, to use RealNetworks software for ''streaming'' video to create a large-scale distribution network for sending video images that would be of the same quality as television pictures.
>>The plan promises to improve substantially on the quality of transmitted video by combining AtHome's high-capacity network and RealNetworks expertise in compressing data-intensive video images.
>>The system would put AtHome several steps closer to its goal of delivering a range of interactive, television-like programming over the Internet.
>>It also could help address doubts about the capacity of neighborhood cable networks to handle widespread video viewing. In some areas, customers of such services have been asked to restrict video viewing to short periods on fears their network will be overloaded by data-intensive video transmissions.
>>''As a result of our exclusive development efforts with RealNetworks, we will be able to create an advanced broadband media delivery network that surpasses any other streaming media network,'' AtHome's Chairman Tom Jermoluk said in a statement.
>>The system uses technology to broadcast live video programming for receipt by single viewers or a wide audience while efficiently managing the massive capacity demands put on the transmission network by the multiple streams of video.
>>With this system in place, AtHome said its subscribers will be able to choose from a wide variety of high-quality audio and video channels that for the first time will give Internet users a viewing experience similar to watching a videotape.
>>AtHome has more than 300,000 subscribers nationwide for its high-speed Internet service and is gaining popularity among home computer users seeking faster Internet response times than widely available ''dial-up'' phone line services can offer.
>>Among the companies planning to create programming to run on the system were computer broadcaster CNet Inc., music video cable leader MTV and financial news service Bloomberg LP.
>>The system is now in development and AtHome plans to begin introducing the system in the third quarter of 1999, the companies said.
>>AtHome is affiliated with 18 cable companies worldwide, who transmit its Internet programming over their TV cable networks. Its stock gained $3.375 to $106 and RealNetworks gained $5.94 to $56, both on Nasdaq.<< |
