All set for advanced set-tops? The new digital cable boxes are here; the question is: what do viewers want from them?(Special Report: Digital Set-Top Boxes)

Broadcasting & Cable, April, 1998 by Healey, Jon

Jon Healey is a telecom reporter for the San Jose (Calif.) 'Mercury News.' The new digital cable boxes are here; the question is: what do viewers want from them? The cable industry soon will start deploying advanced digital set-top boxes that have enough computing horsepower to deliver practically any information or entertainment that can travel over a wire.

You want 50Q channels? No problem. Video e-mail? Sure. Order a tape of the program you just watched, play a game with your nephew in Dubuque, call a friend while you surf the Internet, file your taxes electronically? Step right up. The real question isn't what the new set-tops make possible-it's what people might want to do with that power. And the answer to that question, cable executives and...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works.