IP: Microsoft and TCI in 5 million box cable deal - an interesting

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Date: Sun, 11 Jan 1998 11:48:09 -0500
To: OpenDTV () pcube com
From: Craig Birkmaier <craig () pcube com>




At 2:15 PM -0800 1/10/98, Kilroy Hughes wrote:


> That's surprising news, considering this news from the day before:
> (Dividing the baby? Hedging their bets? Flip flopping like a tuna?
> Actually, I think an MCNS modem can have CE, Java, Intel, or trained
> squirrels inside as long as it looks and acts like an MCNS modem on the
> outside.  The picture formats and browser format, however, are a big
> deal.)


Just listened to a confenrence call with John Malone and Craig Mundie that
took place Saturday morning. Here is the situation in a nutshell.


This is an "arms length" licensing deal for several technologies:
1. WinCE for the operating system
2. IP from the Solo chip developed for the Web TV plus box--this includes
filtering for interlaced output, DTV decoding and 3D effects processing.
3. Possible use of User interface and program guide apps from Web TV.


According to Malone they chose WinCE and the WebTV technologies in large
part because of time to market considerations. Malone feels that MS has a
considerable lead in these areas.


Here's how Malone dealt with the Java question:


"Personal Java is a middleware product; WinCE is OS the two are quite
compatible. The ability to use Java is a memory issue. If we get sufficient
support in applications we would add memory to support simultaneous
operation of WinCE and Java."


One of the attractions of WinCE and the WebTV technologies is the small
memory footprint, and the ability to run WinCE on multiple processors (five
are currently supported). The Open Cable spec calls for 8 MB of memory for
OS and applications. malone was concerned that this is inadequate for
Personal Java, however, if developers provide applications support through
Java, it is likely that the boxes wil be deployed with additional memory.
Bottom line, Malone felt that they should be able to support both Java as
developer language and WinCE as OS.


Other points of interest:


TCI hopes to work with broadcasters to make available high resolution
content in the 480P/720P formats, and that this will provide broadcasters
with an economically viable entree to DTV. In addition, the ability of
these boxes to decode HD0 formats for delivery to NTSC receivers will
provide a large audience for this content.


Selected cable programming will be produced in HD0 formats.


Deployment is expected to begin at the end of '98, with broad availability
in three years.


The open cable technologies will be made available to CE companies for
inclusion in DTV receivers, DVD players, etc.


The size of the deal may be significantly larger than 5 million. TCI is
committed to WinCE, but has not had time to poll affiliated companies to
determine if they will use this OS...the Open Cable spec permits the
downloading of any OS to run on the box, so the customer may ultimately
decide.


Hope this answers Kilroy's questions. Back to the final day at CES.




Regards
Craig