How many people bought new HDTVs over the holidays and are now signing up for new packages from their cable companies and satellite service providers? Renting or buying new HDTV set top boxes, PVRs and signing up for enhanced programming packages?
A lot, I’ll bet, generating lots of new revenues for broadcast distributors.
Otherwise, there are a lot of distorted images coming across their screens – short, fat hockey players according to one of the TV commercials.
Many of those new TVs have sophisticated tuners, picture-in-picture and timing capabilities that go completely to waste because there is currently no standard way for manufacturers to build an integrated digital tuner for the cable industry.
Well, today, ahead of a speech at the Consumer Electronics Show, and ahead of FCC intervention, Comcast is announcing that there will be an industry standardization initiative, tru2way, to enable open development of new services and features that rely on two-way communication over the cable network.
Comcast plans to roll out the new platform to all of its markets later this year and Time Warner cable is said to be ahead of Comcast. Panasonic plans to announce a compatible Viera plasma HDTV set this year.
Is there any activity on this front in Canada? Is it even on the regulatory radar screen?
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