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Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BillyG who wrote (28070)	1/14/1998 12:41:00 PM
From: SIer formerly known as Joe B.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

Motley Fool's take on ZRAN: fool.yahoo.com

To: BillyG who wrote (28070)	1/14/1998 3:25:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

Canal Plus getting interactive boxes. Sony/Phillips partners.................................... hoise.com Canal+ to market interactive TV, Internet access set-top boxes by end 1998 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Canal+ said its next generation of TV set-top boxes, which will offer a range of interactive services and access to the Internet, will be available for sale by the end of 1998. Marc-Andre Feffer, deputy chairman of Europe's largest pay-TV group, told a news conference the set-top boxes will be based on a set of international standards. This will ensure compatibility between different access control and signal processing systems. 'We want the television set to become the focal point of the front room. With digital technology, viewers will be able to fully interact with their TV sets, and use them for a whole range of multimedia services,' he said. Feffer said the set-top boxes will be based on Sun Microsystem's Java computer language, and that prototypes will be ready by March 1998. The standardisation process will be finalised by June. Feffer said Canal+'s partners in the venture are Sony and Philips. He also drew attention to the work of the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) Group of industry players in formulating industry-wide standards. Responding to questions about the possible development of rival systems in Germany and UK, Feffer said the open and consensus-based approach of the DVB was the only way to ensure digital TV would be universal. 'We think standardisation should happen at an international level. That is why we like DVB standards. It requires all its members to have common scrambling systems and common access control,' he said. 'Everyone is agreed that we should be working towards one single box for the consumer. The present generation of boxes has no standardised access control systems, and there is no bridge to the Internet or PCs,' Feffer said. Formed in 1993, DVB has a membership of over 200 broadcasters, manufacturers and regulatory bodies, and is currently promoting draft standards based on the Java and France Telecom-developed Multimedia Home Expert Group (MHEG) computer languages. [MS 3-12-97] c EuroInfoTech Brussels 18 December, 1997 Issue 0161