Microsoft, Oracle in high-speed chase: cable stands to benefit as computer giants vie for set-tops.

Broadcasting & Cable, September, 1997 by Colman, Price

Cable stands to benefit as computer giants vie for set-tops Microsoft's eagerness to ally itself with cable's move toward digital TV and data has prompted the software giant to backpedal on two key issues that had annoyed operators: insistence on stiff royalty payments and proprietary standards for set-top boxes.

At the same time, operators are increasingly interested in a counterproposal by Microsoft rival Oracle Corp. Chairman Larry Ellison. The proposal includes an offer to put up $1 billion or more to finance operators' equipment purchases of even more sophisticated boxes that employ a competing operating system, Navio. The companies' push for access to cable's planned high-speed Internet networks has cable executives happily playing them...

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