Cisco Agrees to Buy Scientific-Atlanta for $6.9 Bln

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        RE: [IP] Cisco Agrees to Buy Scientific-Atlanta for $6.9 Bln
Date:   Fri, 18 Nov 2005 15:43:45 -0500
From:   Bob Frankston <Bob2-19-0501 () bobf frankston com>
To:     dave () farber net, ip () v2 listbox com



The question is whether Cisco is going to follow the current model with a
proprietary distribution system and a franchise model for TV or will
embrace the Internet as a transport and allow direct delivery of content.
The distribution mechanism and subscription policies are separate.

The issue isn't the set top box per se, it's whether the STB is the
controlling gateway or a device that simply translates/decrypts some
streams into locally usable video.

Encrypted distribution can be decoupled from local DRM policies.

I would feel better were SA to be grouped with LinkSys rather than the
carrier products.

If I want to be optimistic I can hope for a move towards general IP
distribution and away from the Cable and FIOS style partitioning of the
capacity. Even if some of the IP capacity is reserved for business reasons
it's better that the partitioning be done as policy as opposed to being
baked into the hardware.

-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Farber [mailto:dave () farber net]
Sent: Friday, November 18, 2005 14:08
To: ip () v2 listbox com
Subject: [IP] Cisco Agrees to Buy Scientific-Atlanta for $6.9 Bln



-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        [Dewayne-Net] re: Cisco Agrees to Buy Scientific-Atlanta
for
$6.9 Bln
Date:   Fri, 18 Nov 2005 08:28:26 -0800
From:   Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
Reply-To:       dewayne () warpspeed com
To:     Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
References:     <0IQ500C9US278B1E () mta3 srv hcvlny cv net>



[Note:  This comment comes from reader Scott Berry.  DLH]

> From: Scott Berry <sjb () optonline net>
> Date: November 18, 2005 8:29:15 AM PST
> To: dewayne () warpspeed com
> Subject: RE: [Dewayne-Net] Cisco Agrees to Buy Scientific-Atlanta
> for $6.9 Bln
>
> Having read three distinct stories in the "major" media about this,
> I've yet
> to see mention of this as anything more than a simple TV play.
>
> Why aren't people talking about this more as Cisco's beachhead into
> the Home
> Media Hub market?  It isn't such a difficult leap to see SetTop Box
> = Home
> Gateway.  They have the in-home networking with Linksys, as well as
> the ATAs
> and VoIP phones.  Plus, this move solidifies existing channels (and
> opens
> new ones) to move those devices into homes.
>
> Even without WiFi/STB or STB/VoIP type integrations, this seems
> like a good
> move for Cisco; but I can't imagine they won't try some integration
> in the
> future to make these boxes more complicated and improve the margins
> on them.
> In fact, the synergy possibilities are so good I'm surprised a
> Lucent or
> Nortel didn't do more to keep this out of Cisco's hands.  No wonder
> Chambers
> was willing to break his "no big mergers" rule.
>
> Cisco can't help but tackle the consumer market.  Their existing
> markets
> aren't big enough (and most are shrinking anyway) to sustain a
> company this
> big with such a large Wall St.-driven growth mandate.
>
>   Scott

Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>


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