New E-mail Application Addresses Low-End Boxes

Cable World, June 25, 2001 by Richard Cole

A video message business for cable operators

Cable operators have now made it clear they will not rush into high-end digital set-top boxes when lower-end boxes will carry the interactive-television freight. But the nagging worry is that this commitment to Motorola's DCT 2000 and its competitors may cost MSOs a killer ITV app down the road. That concern has induced ITV-application companies to push the 2000 to its limits, and so far, the 2000 continues to be the little engine that could. The latest success story is running e-mail through the 2000 onto the TV set--and not just text, but messages with attachments, such as photos and even video clips.

Integra5 Communications, a small Israel-based company with U.S. offices in Denver is one company that has jumped into that space is. Integra5 has announced technical trials with Gans Multimedia later this year and is negotiating other trials as welt, says COO JeffTokar.

Set-top-box manufacturers say that unlike the 5000s, the 2000 boxes cannot deliver video e-mail because the boxes don't have sufficient memory. So Integra5 goes around the box, delivering an MPEG stream that is managed in the server, says Tokar. "The information comes to the viewer's set-top box just like any other information in the digital-video tier," he says. "There's no specialized browser needed, no special applications for the set-top box because we don't put a lot of software on it. We can use existing boxes out there without having to go through a retrofit; or a refit or a truck roll."

What the subscriber receives in effect is a messaging channel. Tune in and get a customized--and brandable--menu that offers e-mail, instant messaging or chat. The menu can also be set up in other languages for non-English-speaking subs.

Viewers can be alerted that a message has arrived via Integra5 system--on Scientific-Atlanta equipment, for example--by a blinking red light on the set-top box.

What makes Integra5's system unique, Tokar says, is that the system will operate even in older, one-way cable systems by using a telephone to dial up the server and manage e-mail either by voice or the phone keypad. The server software coordinates the on screen menu with the voice or keypad commands. The subscribers can read messages, view JPEG photo files or watch e-mailed video clips on their television set. They can then reply by voice, using the phone to record a message, which arrives at the other end in the form of an e-mail or instant message, or chat with a voice attachment.

For more advanced two-way systems, the sub can use either the phone or a microphone-equipped remote control to record the message. "You have to remember that 45% of American households don't have a computer," Tokar says. "Many of them will never be comfortable using a computer or a keyboard, which is required in other ITV e-mails systems. This gives them a simple e-mail system that works without a keyboard."

It's also ISP agnostic--viewers who have Hotmail or Yahoo? or even AOL accounts have access to their e-mail. And that in turn gives MSOs the opportunity to market their own e-mail access to PC-less subscribers who have never signed up with other providers. Not only does the system allow MSOs to market digital service, it gives operators bundling telephony with their offerings, yet another marketing tool, Tokar says. "Either way, we're leveraging existing digital services through the digital set-top box," he says. "It's a great offering for ... cable operator[s]. Now they can offer something in addition to a bunch of new video channels to compete against the direct-to-home guys."

Tokar won't discuss costs, saying different operators are interested in different payment methods. Some prefer a fiat fee per box, while others would rather run the messaging channel themselves and pay a license fee. In any case, he says, the equipment is modular, allowing the operator to adjust service to the number of subscribers at a minimal cost.

All studies, he notes, indicate that offering interactive services reduces churn. "This is the first thing to come along that is truly interactive, that gives the operators something to deploy that's not just an additional video channel and that doesn't require and additional box," says Tokar.