Set-top setback.(Microsoft and AT&T contract management)(Brief Article)

Broadcasting & Cable, June, 2001 by Grotticelli, Michael

Microsoft exec challenges AT&T on consumer appeal of advanced features In the wake of AT&T's decision to scale back deployment of advanced set-tops, Microsoft is challenging AT&T's assessment that consumers aren't eager for advanced services. Working with AT&T's Broadband division, in which it invested $5 billion, Microsoft had put most of its Microsoft TV R&D efforts behind advanced features to take advantage of Motorola's high-powered DCT-5000.

When the cable giant said it would deploy only less featured (and less expensive) boxes, Microsoft was left to rethink that development. Ed Graczyk, director of Microsoft TV Plat form Group, urges network operators to think about the future instead of short-term goals. "An advanced platform gives...

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