Need help from any IP experts. Here is a PR piece from the upcoming
Western Cable show where they plan on putting IP on MPEG streams.
Could this work? If it works would people want it? Thanks in advance for any help.
MoreCom...........................
multichannel.com
Broadband Week for November 23, 1998
MoreCom Enters TV-Based Web Field
By LESLIE ELLIS November 23, 1998
Here comes another Internet-over-TV player into the mix.
Reasoning that Internet techniques delivered over advanced-digital set-tops represent
the next wave of interactive TV, MoreCom Inc. will debut next week at the Western
Show in Anaheim, Calif.
MoreCom quietly sent out brochures last week, describing itself as a see-it-to-believe-it
new way of delivering personalized Webcasts to TVs, along with Web-enhanced TV,
electronic program guides and video-on-demand.
What's more, said the company's founder, Ami Miron, is that no personal computer,
phone line or cable modem is required, nor does the service run in the vertical-blanking
interval.
The 25-person start-up, located in Horsham, Pa., was founded early last year by
Miron, a former Philips Consumer Electronics Co. and General Instrument Corp.
executive.
On its board is Richard Friedland, the former GI chairman, who resigned last year.
Miron said MoreCom completed a first round of venture-capital funding in September,
and it will put together a second round by March.
During a telephone interview last week, Miron said he started the company partly for
the challenge and partly because of his vision to take the next step in Internet-over-TV.
"Now is another convergence point -- TVs with Internet video," Miron said, noting that
MoreCom differs from competing offerings because customers are never taken away
from whatever TV show they're viewing to go to the Web.
"TV is always playing in the background," Miron added.
Another difference is streaming video.
"The ability to provide video clips on-demand, with an infrastructure that can grow into
full video-on-demand, is what we've done," he said.
Plus, to move streaming video beyond the PC experience -- where the clip plays in a
small, three-inch-by-three-inch window -- MoreCom maps the Internet-protocol
packets into MPEG (Motion Picture Expert Group) packets that are decoded at the
set-top box.
High-speed Internet-access companies @Home Network and Road Runner restrict
their customers to a 10-minute maximum of streaming media, mostly because their
MSO owners want to retain control of the video-viewing environment. But by
identifying a way to map Internet video into the digital-cable environment, MoreCom
may have found a way to assuage that concern.
Miron said MoreCom's technology suite runs on existing hybrid fiber-coaxial networks,
using "common MPEG-2 encoders and digital headends, and the currently deployed
layer of digital set-top boxes." It is also flexible enough to stretch across the
OpenCable, DAVIC (Digital Audio/Video Interoperability Council) and DVB (Digital
Video Broadcast) standards environments, he said.
MoreCom's product portfolio is software-centric, consisting of four servers dedicated
to four service categories: "MoreWeb," "MoreCast," "MoreVideo" and "MoreMail."
The MoreWeb service is for Web browsing via the TV; MoreCast serves up one-way
Webcasts; and MoreVideo is for streaming IP-video clips. MoreMail is for e-mail,
either one-way or two-way, with an optional infrared keyboard.
At the digital set-top is a thin, downloadable client, Miron said, that includes a browser
customized to run within 4 megabytes of set-top memory.
MoreCom has already filed for four patents, and two others are in the wings.
Miron said MoreCom will pursue a variety of business approaches with MSOs, but it
will likely seek a 6-megahertz channel ride in return for an unspecified revenue-sharing
arrangement.
MoreCom faces solid competition in an as-yet-unproven marketplace, noted one
industry analyst. WorldGate Communications Inc., ICTV Inc., Source Media Inc.'s
Interactive Channel and Wink Communications Inc. are all in various stages of
competitive interactive-TV alternatives.
"I think that the whole digital set-top realm for Internet access will be interesting to
watch," noted Michael Harris, an analyst with Phoenix-based Kinetic Strategies Inc.
"It's a somewhat unstable market category."
Miron said he's keenly aware of his competitors, but he declined to discuss his
competitive strategy.
He added that following the Western Show demonstration, which will consist of
"pre-field-trial" prototypes, an unnamed MSO will test the company's technology.
Plus, MoreCom will participate in a joint demonstration in the CableNET area,
with C-Cube Microsystems Inc., DiviCom Inc., 3Com Corp. and Pioneer New
Media Technologies. |
