WebTV coming to
high-speed cable
By Stephen Shankland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
December 3, 1998, 3:50 p.m. PT
update Microsoft has inked a deal with cable TV
hardware giant Scientific-Atlanta that will make the
WebTV service available over the high-speed cable TV
infrastructure for the first time and pave the way for use
of the Windows CE operating system.
Under the agreement, Microsoft's WebTV service will be
available on Scientific-Atlanta's Explorer 2000 cable TV set-top
devices. In addition, Microsoft and Scientific Atlanta agreed to
jointly develop future set-top boxes.
The basic "dumb" cable boxes that sit on top of cable-capable
TVs today are expected to be eventually replaced by advanced
devices, such as the Explorer 2000, that offer the power of a
personal computer.
Currently, WebTV boxes let a customer surf the Web using a
television, a remote control, and a phone line. With the
agreement, WebTV customers won't need either the WebTV
box or the phone line.
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Although the agreement is only a preliminary licensing deal,
and not a guarantee that Scientific Atlanta will deploy set-top
boxes based on Microsoft's Windows CE operating system, the
deal may be more show than substance, analysts say.
Connecting to the Internet over the cable TV infrastructure
means customers get high-speed "broadband" Internet access,
taking advantage of speeds tens of times faster than ordinary
dial-up connections used by today's WebTV systems.
"Viewers will find that the response time is closer to what they
expect for a television," WebTV President Steve Perlman said
today. People using their TVs expect the instantaneous
response they get changing channels, he said. Broadband
Internet access makes it easier for Net surfers to look at fancy,
graphics-rich Web pages, download video and audio, or perform
other tasks that strain slower connection techniques.
Though faster, the new WebTV cable service won't be as
widespread as the WebTV system using a phone line. The
cable system requires that a customer have digital cable
service as well as specific hardware from Scientific Atlanta.
The agreement marks the first time WebTV will run on hardware
other than WebTV's own, Perlman said. However, the service
will appear on other advanced set-top boxes next year, he said.
"WebTV technology now will be available to work on essentially
any hardware," he said.
Although WebTV customers won't necessarily need WebTV
hardware, Perlman said WebTV will continue to design
hardware as well as software. "We're doing both," he said.
Currently, the WebTV service requires boxes designed by
WebTV itself, though they're available from electronics
companies such as Sony, Philips, and Mitsubishi.
Also as part of the agreement, Microsoft won a place for its
Windows CE operating system. Microsoft and Scientific-Atlanta
will collaborate on a next-generation set-top box that comes
with Microsoft's pared-down operating system as well as
WebTV. That's a victory for Microsoft, which faces competing
technology such as Sun Microsystems' PersonalJava for the
set-top boxes.
Some were not impressed with the deal.
"It doesn't mean anything--it's just a licensing deal. Everyone
licenses everything," said Seamus McAteer, of Jupiter
Communications, explaining that the deal was probably
necessitated by Scientific-Atlanta's relationship with cable
provider TCI, which has already announced it will distribute
Windows CE set-top boxes to its subscribers. "Some of the
cable operators are saying that they're interested in Windows
CE. SA would not want to partner, except they're forced to."
"I'm not holding my breath for Microsoft to dominate this space.
I don't think they will. Microsoft is riding the coattails of their
WebTV purchase into the set-top business," he continued.
"Right now they're a bit player, but with a lot of capital. Just
because Microsoft makes an announcement doesn't
mean that it's going to dominate the world."
The new WebTV system
won't be available on
Scientific-Atlanta's
Explorer 2000 set-top
boxes until next year,
Perlman said. Customers
then will be able to
download the new WebTV
services to their Explorer
2000 boxes, he said.
The Explorer 2000 boxes
are designed to offer
services such as
video-on-demand, home shopping, and Internet
telephony.
Scientific-Atlanta is one of the two largest companies
that sell the set-top boxes, the devices that hook TVs
into the cable TV infrastructure. Set-top boxes are
increasingly sophisticated computing devices, adding
features such as two-way communications instead of
just the ability to receive TV signals.
The deal between Microsoft's WebTV and Scientific
Atlanta also will allow cable TV companies to customize
the WebTV system or even use it under their own brand
names, Perlman said.
WebTV shields the user from some of the technical
details of surfing the Web on a computer, but it doesn't
offer all the Internet features a PC can use. For example,
WebTV has declined to offer support for Java programs
or RealNetworks' audio and video streaming technology. |
