Last January, I wrote about a US cable industry standardization initiative, tru2way, intended to enable open development of new services and features that rely on two-way communication over the cable network.
In effect, tru2way will eliminate proprietary set-top boxes, allowing conforming open standard set-top boxes to run on any cable network. Alternatively, tru2way could be built into new TV sets, eliminating the set-top box altogether. That is precisely what Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, and LG Electronics plan to do, helping to eliminate at least one remote control and for many, simplifying household wiring.
Light Reading wonders how telcos will respond. As a cable industry initiative, how would IPTV networks interface to tru2way TV sets?
It might be in the best interests of cable companies facing IPTV competition to provide incentives for customers to buy tru2way equipped TVs. Will telephone companies need to develop a kind of plug-in-the-wall interface to enable IPTV to operate with tru2way TV sets.
With wall mounted flat panel TVs becoming more common room fixtures, I have to think that eliminating the extra device, the set-top box, has value for a lot of people. For cable companies, tru2way-enabled TV sets may help keep customers from churning away to IPTV.
Consumers in a Multi-screen World is the theme of one of our break-out sessions at The 2008 Canadian Telecom Summit on June 16. Have you registered yet?