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

To: BillyG who wrote (30778)	3/11/1998 4:48:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 50808

Cable & Wireless, they own a piece of Hong Kong Telecom, who uses NEC/Divicom boxes............................................ Cable & Wireless Looking To Leapfrog Ahead On Digital TV <Picture> [ Back to the News \| Back HOME ] LONDON, ENGLAND, Newsbytes via NewsEdge Corporation : Cable & Wireless (C &W), one of the main cable TV operators in the UK, has announced plans to use conditional access technology from Oracle in its digital set-top box (STB) decoders. The move is an interesting one, Newsbytes notes, as it adds kudos to the Oracle's digital TV/Internet access technology, which has been slipping a little against the onslaught of Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) system. According to C&W, the firm will licence technology from Network Computer Incorporated (NCI), the California-based subsidiary of Oracle and Netscape. As reported last November by Newsbytes, C&W will start testing its digital cable TV service in Lewisham, London, from the end of this month. At the time, Graham Wallace, C&W's chairman, said that the company plans to roll out the CWC digital TV service across its cable franchise areas across the UK by this summer and had already ordered 500 set-top boxes for the Lewisham trial. Newsbytes noted at the time that the move will give customers of the former Mercury Communications, Bell Cablemedia, Nynex Cablecomms and Videotron access to a basic package of 60 channels, all fed (and multiplexed) digitally across existing cable TV systems, in return for UKP 11-99 (US$ 20-00) a month. It now seems that the digital STBs, which rely on telecoms links for pay-per- view authorization, will come with Internet access using a variant on Netscape Communicator's Web browser technology. C&W's move will come as something of a shock to BSkyB, Newsbytes notes, which plans to use Internet access as a big "come on" for its digital satellite services from quarter three of this year onwards. Earlier today, C&W officials said they will invest around UKP 100 (US$165) million in their digital STB services, although no precise details of the numbers of potential subscribers have been announced. Newsbytes' sources, meanwhile, suggest that C&W's STB units will be among the most modern in the marketplace. They are expected to enable users to download updated software to access interactive TV and Internet services. Although the C&W service is planned for a national rollout across cable TV regions in the UK during the third quarter of this year, the company is already planning to offer Web access and e-mail by the end of the year, together with interactive TV schedules following in 1999. According to Graham Wallace, C&W's chief executive, the technology that will drive this system is known as DTV Navigator. Wallace claims that digital cable TV is no simply about providing more TV channels, since the DTV Navigator platform will allow the company to fully exploit the benefits of the firm's integrated broadband network. "Today's announcement represents a major advance which will mean that our customers will have more control, choice and flexibility in how an when they access whole range of information and entertainment services -- all through their existing TV sets," he explained. Starting this fall, Wallace said that C&W will offer a wider choice of films and programs "on demand," with a choice of up to 200 channels, plus access to an electronic programming guide and TV-based Web access. During 1999, this range of services will be extended to include features such as interactive education, information, enhanced education services and home shopping plus banking. C&W's Web site is at cwcom.co.uk . Reported by Newsbytes News Network, newsbytes.com . (19980310/Press Contact: Emma Tarring, C&W Communications Press Office +44-171- 528-3524; Reader Contact: C&W Communications +44-171-528-2500) <<Newsbytes -- 03-10-98>> [Copyright 1998, NewsBytes]