• Tribune Media snaps up iSurfTV assets

• Is Wi-Fi's bubble ready to burst?

• TVN adds real-time encoding to VOD repertoire

• Study: Cable needs to get the word out on VOD

• MCN: Cablevision back on board at CableLabs

• C-cation, Comcast settle 'Lightwire' spat

• Qwest to sell satellite TV services

• Broadband Briefs

Tribune Media snaps up iSurfTV assets

Jeff Baumgartner, CED

Recent calls to iSurfTV headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif. have been met with disconnection messages. Now we know why.

Tribune Media Services (TMS) said it has acquired "a significant patent portfolio" tied to iSurfTV's interactive program guide and interactive television technologies. Financial terms were not disclosed.

TMS said it will use those assets to complement its own "passive" electronic programming guide application, newspaper magazine print guides and its Web-based Zap2it.com guides and affiliate sites.

Adding iSurfTV's technology to the mix will likely make TMS a much stronger competitor in the cable IPG market, which is presently dominated by Gemstar TV Guide International, Scientific-Atlanta and Pioneer Electronics (USA). Microsoft TV and TV Gateway are among those trying to grab market share in the cable IPG arena.

TMS said an IPG with some iSurfTV technology has gained approval from Motorola Broadband's ACADIA Application Integration Center, which awards certification to applications for Motorola-made digital cable set-tops. TMS has yet to launch that IPG commercially. Cablevision Systems Corp. is a customer of TMS' passive program guide.

TMS hopes to raise the bar with iSurfTV's 3D guide technology, said John Kelleher, general manager of TMS' electronic program guide group.

TMS is in the process of delivering the associated equipment and software to its home base and technical team in Chicago, he added, noting that an undisclosed number of former iSurfTV employees have joined TMS or are working on a contract basis, Kelleher said.

iSurfTV's technical prowess did not translate into many deployments. Although it did offer a version that worked on thin-client DCT1200 and DCT2000 digital set-tops, the only trial the company announced was in mid-2002 with United Latin America Inc.

Is Wi-Fi's bubble ready to burst?

Jeff Baumgartner, CED

Wi-Fi usage is on pace to reach 707 million users in 2008, but that momentum will be matched by massive industry consolidation and the deaths of many wireless Internet service providers (WISPs), predicts Pyramid Research.

Revenues will not keep pace with Wi-Fi usage, and declining rates will drive industry consolidation, the firm said, pointing to a recent decision by Wi-Fi chip maker Intersil to sell its Wi-Fi business to Globespan Virata for $365 million.

Wi-Fi's move into a low-margin game will benefit "major players" such as Intel Corp. and Cisco Systems, which will either outlast the smaller fish or swallow them whole via acquisition.

In some respects, the forthcoming consolidation of the Wi-Fi equipment market is beginning to mirror what has already occurred in the cable modem market as margins for the equipment grew thinner and thinner.

Some cable modem vendors either left the market (3Com) or couldn't survive (Com21 Inc.) the financial rigors. Plus, many large vendors have used their financial muscle to buy what was once a flourishing group of cable modem termination system (CMTS) startups, including: Broadband Access Systems Inc., Cadant Inc., RiverDelta Networks and Pacific Broadband Communications.

The coming burst of Wi-Fi's bubble and price pressures won't spare many of the WISPs that have cropped up.

"Average revenue per user will drop from $30 per month this year to $4 per month in 2008," said Pyramid Research Analyst John Yunker, in a statement.

So, what will become of the Wi-Fi sector? Pyramid suggests that the technology will be wielded as a customer retention strategy among large broadband service providers. Case in point is Verizon, which is coupling Wi-Fi with its DSL and dial-up offerings.

"The numbers show that churn reduction alone would justify [Verizon's] current strategy," Pyramid concluded.

TVN adds real-time encoding to VOD repertoire

Jeff Baumgartner, CED

TVN Entertainment Corp. has introduced TVNow, a "priority delivery service" that enables programmers to encode content in real-time for on-demand distribution.

The application will grow in importance as cable operators make sporting events, news and other time-sensitive content available on-demand, said Jim Riley, TVN's senior vice president of business development.

Although traditional VOD movies give distributors like TVN days and even weeks in advance to encode and pitch them to cable headends before their availability windows kick in, a basketball game tagged for on-demand distribution would have to be encoded and managed on the fly.

The TVNow platform is capable of encoding and pitching an NBA game for viewing in a couple of hours, Riley said, noting that the new product is based on CableLabs metadata specifications. MSOs could also use the application to encode local events for VOD, Riley said. N2 Broadband unveiled similar capabilities in late 2002.

TVN is currently conducting TVNow trials and negotiating with programmers and broadcasters, Riley said. The company handles VOD management services for programmers such as Turner, Fox, ESPN and Discovery and for MSOs such as Adelphia Communications, Charter Communications, Comcast Corp., Insight Communications and Mediacom Communications.

To make the new application go, TVN has enhanced its existing VOD asset management/distribution platform with DiviCom MPEG-2 encoders from Harmonic Inc.

Study: Cable needs to get the word out on VOD

Jeff Baumgartner, CED

Video-on-demand is growing in availability, but widespread consumer acceptance won't occur without stronger marketing efforts, warned Leichtman Research Group (LRG) in citing new research.

LRG said the study, which culled phone survey results of 1,400 homes in four markets where VOD is available, found that more than 80 percent of cable subs there had heard of the service, but about 25 percent of digital subscribers and roughly half of analog subs were not aware that it was available in their market.

In the markets studied, only 30 percent of all digital subs surveyed had used VOD. Usage rates in the four cities ranged from 27 percent to 45 percent, LRG said.

"Intensified marketing efforts, along with increased content offerings, will be significant factors in growing consumers' use and appreciation of VOD," said LRG President and Principal Analyst Bruce Leichtman, in a press release.

Cablevision back on board at CableLabs

Jeff Baumgartner, CED

Industry maverick Cablevision Systems Corp. returned to the fold as a dues-paying member of CableLabs about a year ago, CableLabs officials confirmed. CED sister pub Multichannel News first reported it Tuesday morning, citing CableLabs CEO Richard Green.

Cablevision's former absence was placed under the spotlight in May of last year when news surfaced that Charter Communications had invoked a clause that would enable the MSO to withdraw its CableLabs membership in three years. Charter CEO Carl Vogel remains on the CableLabs board.

U.S.-based CableLabs members pay monthly dues of 2 cents per subscriber, a price that has not changed since the R&D house's inception in the late 1980s. Those outside the U.S. pay 1 cent per subscriber per month.

C-cation, Comcast settle 'Lightwire' spat

Jeff Baumgartner, CED

C-cation Inc. and Comcast Cable said they have settled a patent case that C-cation first brought against AT&T Broadband last year.

In that case, C-cation alleged that AT&T Broadband's LightWire and Oxiom HFC technology and underlying architecture infringed on a number of C-cation patents.

Under the agreement, C-cation has extended a patent license for its "Passive HFC Architecture." Financial terms were not disclosed.

Qwest to sell satellite TV services

Jeff Baumgartner, CED

If the VDSL plans of Qwest Communications seemed to be on the backburner before, consider them completely off the stove now after the RBOC struck two separate agreements to bundle and market digital satellite television programming.

On Monday, the same day SBC Communications forged an alliance with EchoStar Communications, Qwest did one better -- agreeing to sell DBS services from EchoStar and DirecTV Inc.

Qwest said it expects to roll out EchoStar services initially to single-family homes in Colorado and Nebraska. It will offer DirecTV at first in Phoenix, Tucson and Seattle. Qwest hopes to bundle DBS services in more markets in its midwest territories later this year and into 2004.

Broadband briefs:

• Cullen joins Charter
Charter Communications has named Thomas Cullen its senior vice president of advanced services and business development. Cullen, who had worked for nearly two decades with MediaOne and US West, was closely involved in the formation of the Road Runner partnership between MediaOne and Time Warner Cable.

• IP Unity, Gallery IP complete interop
IP Unity Corp. and Gallery IP Telephony have completed the integration of their respective VoIP gear.

Specifically, the companies finished testing IP Unity's Unified Messaging, Audio/Web Conferencing and Pre-Paid Services applications with Gallery IP's CAssiopeia softswitch.

Previously, IP Unity completed interoperability testing between its Harmony 6000 Media Server and Gallery's softswitch.