WiMax TV - NDS Gets It<< A Tale of Two Networks | Main | Murdoch Maneuvers >> Todd Chanko | September 08, 2006, 02:41 PM Convergence is in the eye of the beholder. When is a PC a TV? Online video aspires to emulate television - but still isn't the same as switching on the remote, leaning back on the La-Z-Boy and channel surfing. Convergence also poses thorny issues for bundled service providers. There's another word that starts with "C" - cannibalization. With the proliferation of video content across devices and platforms, what's a Pay TV operator/broadband provider to do? NDS, majority owned by News Corporation, is presenting a WiMax TV solution at the IBC convention in Amsterdam. It may have an answer to the "C" problem. Working closely with Intel and Viasat Broadcasting (a unit of Modern Times Group), the provider of DRM and conditional access solutions hopes to demonstrate more than a live Pay TV signal-over-WiMax application - it proposes the platform as a viable alternative for broadcasters and content providers alike. Moreover, a successful deployment of WiMax by, say, Comcast, could, conceptually at least, threaten Slingbox. A laptop equipped with a Comcast WiMax client would satisfy the needs of a TV hungry road warrior. Comcast would provide additional value – outside the home – to its subscriber. Intel gets to sell more chips…well, you get the picture. Something for the JV among Comcast, Sprint, Cox, Time Warner Cable and Advance/Newhouse to look at. |
 Subscribe for free email updates:
|