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To: QuietWon who wrote (54004)	2/9/1999 11:58:00 PM
From: puborectalis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 119973

Comcast chief likes TCI deal By Bob Diddlebock Denver Post Business Writer Feb. 9 - Carrying the flag for a cable industry facing stiff competition on several fronts, Comcast Corp. President Brian Roberts said Monday that AT&T's acquisition of Tele-Communications Inc. affirms the "virtually unlimited possibilities" of the cable pipeline. Comcast, which is assuming control of Englewood-based Jones Intercable this year, is moving quickly into the digital cable, telephone and high-speed Internet access businesses in franchises counting 4.5 million subscribers, Roberts said during a Downtown Denver conference sponsored by CableLabs, the Louisville-based research and development arm of the cable industry. Speaking to an audience primarily composed of engineers and analysts, Roberts said the cable industry, which is serving 66 million U.S. subscribers and trying to fend off such aggressive TV-service interlopers as direct broadcast satellite companies and the Baby Bells, will continue to evolve as the personal computer business has over the last 15 years. "(Cable's growth) will be a steady progression of significant steps forward," said Roberts, who two years ago persuaded Microsoft Corp. to invest $1.1 billion in his Philadelphia company. He said a big element that will fuel that evolution is what engineers call "interoperability," which CableLabs has been working on for years. That is, developing standardized hardware and software - set-top cable tuners and cable modems, for example - that can be used in different configurations with each other. Industrywide standards also will promote the sale of such tuners and other in-home cable hardware in retail stores, industry experts say. Along those lines, Englewoodbased MediaOne, which serves 5.1 million cable customers, said Monday it has adopted an open standard for its digital cable systems that will promote the use of several manufacturers' set-top tuners - and not just one company's - on the same cable system. "The work being done (at CableLabs) will define the common platforms that will make a whole new world of interactive services possible," Roberts said. Like TCI, Comcast is marketing digital cable TV service that delivers more channels and sharper TV pictures. Roberts said Comcast sold the service to 70,000 customers for $9.95 a month above their basic cable charges during last year's second half. TCI, which is slowly rolling out the service, as well as Internet-access services, to its 445,000 Denver-area customers as it upgrades its local network, said it counts more than 1 million digital TV customers nationwide. Return to Top Return to Business Return to Post Home