Broadband content combines text, video and audio in ways that were impractical with 14.4 and 28.8 kbps modem speeds. That opportunity isn't lost on content developers, some of which include traditional cable TV programmers. Sports applications of broadband are also huge.
Observers point out that broadband content means much more than entertainment.
While an array of applications can be translated to either platform, he said, there are quite a few that will simply never make the transition. When it comes to software, Sid Gregory, vice president of Tele-Communications Inc.'s National Digital Television Center, said that when MSOs are choosing an operating system, they need to consider the services they'll offer, the performance, the development tools and the hardware that an operating system supports. He said TCI is still working at a feverish pace with Microsoft, for its Windows CE operating system, and with Sun Microsystems for its Java-based middleware. Also on the silicon front, John O'Donnell, president of Equator Technologies, detailed the structure and concepts behind programmable media processors that are optimized to handle multimedia-and especially video, audio, telephony and graphics. Discussing Equator's new chip line, which features fully downloadable software, O'Donnell said the biggest advantage of the approach is its applicability to advanced set-tops, in that service changes could be coordinated via a download, and not a chip change.