General Instrument fans DigiCipher/MPEG rivalry

Electronic News, August 23, 1993 by Reinhardt Krause

NEW YORK -- General Instrument is in the final stages of licensing its DigiCipher compression technology to rival set-top decoder maker Scientific-Atlanta, it was revealed last week at an industry interactive multimedia forum here.

Scientific-Atlanta described the pending agreement with GI as a "cross-licensing deal" but would not disclose what other technologies will be involved. In the short term, the agreement will result in more interoperability with the MPEG-2 based compression technologies also used in new systems being deployed by cable companies, telephone companies, direct broadcast satellite (DBS) providers and other players.

However, the processor and software camps behind the set-top alliances now in place (EN, June 14) will still be competing--and trying to take advantage of the growing rivalry between telcos, DBS providers, and cable companies in providing video-on-demand and other interactive services. The alliance of Scientific-Atlanta, the Apple/IBM joint venture Kalieda Labs, and Motorola--which is developing set-top boxes built around the PowerPC and the ScriptX operating system--is increasingly eyeing the telco market. Scientific-Atlanta already has one trial planned in Omaha, Neb. with U.S. West.

Meanwhile, the telco market is also being targeted by other players. Philips Consumer Electronics last week said it would target the telco markets with ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) compatible boxes. Previously, Philips said it would work with Compression Labs to develop set-top boxes for Broad-Band Technologies, another player in the telco market (EN, Aug. 9).

GI is attempting to leverage as much as possible its existing market share in the cable industry, its position in the "Grand Alliance" in high-definition TV, as well as recent deals such as supplying would-be DBS supplier Primestar and Tele-Communications Inc. with set-top boxes (EN, Aug. 9).

In addition to the licensing agreement with Scientific-Atlanta, William Devereaux, vice president of strategic development for GI's Jerrold division, also said that GI is in talks with Korean TV manufacturers, who would incorporate modules directly into sets. In addition, Mr. Devereaux said GI and its set-top development partners Intel and Microsoft plan to roll out upgraded products with new processors and software every 18-24 months.

On the one hand, GI is working with C-Cube Microsystems, a supplier of MPEG silicon, to make its DigiCipher technology compatible with the open standard digital compression technology. Still, Mr. Devereaux claimed DigiCipher-based boxes would be less costly to deploy. He said MPEG-based decoder boxes would require twice as much memory to operate and have slower access to channels.

Mr. Devereaux comments and disclosure of the GI/Scientific-Atlanta negotiations took place at the Interactive Multimedia Forum, held by Kagan Seminars in New York. Also on the panel were Bob Carberry, president of IBM's Firework Partners multimedia group; Webb McKinney, GM of Hewlett-Packard's interactive TV appliance division; Avram Miller, a VP of corporate business at Intel; Naren Nath, Microsoft's lead product manager of advanced consumer technology; and William Leuhrs, Scientific-Atlanta's GM of subscriber video systems.

Mr. Leuhrs later described Mr. Devereaux's disclosure as self-serving. Mr. Leuhrs also stressed that the negotiations are over cross-licensing--although he declined to say what Scientific Atlantic is bringing to the table.

"At some point in time, in the near future or in the far future, there will be a standard, the cable industry will pick some technology, whether it's DigiCipher, MPEG 2, MPEG 4, S.A.--something or whatever. It will ubiquitous and Scientific-Atlanta will be on that platform," he said.

Asked what flavor of DigiCipger GI would be licensing, Mr. Leuhrs added that Scientific-Atlanta was also working with C-Cube, which he said is "working on a number of chip solutions." C-Cube's MPEG video decoders are also being employed by the 3DO Co. (see page 14).

The GI/Scientific-Atlanta licensing deal is part of a industry recognition of the need for some interoperability over compression technologies as well as free data exchange across competing software platforms--something the Interactive Multimedia Association (IMA) is working to develop.

Earlier this year, TeleCommunications Inc. (TCI) and Time Warner said they would seek compatibility across their digital platforms (EN, June 7). GI has an agreement with TCI to supply more than one million dual-Mode DigiCipher II/MPEG-2 set-top cable TV boxes. Meanwhile, Scientific-Atlanta will use Mips R4000 processor/ATM based boxes in a Time Warner trial in Orlando, Fla. (En, August 2).

In addition, telcos and cable companies are cooperating to some degree in seeing that broadband systems are deployed. U S West has asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to trial its first video dial tone (VDT) service in Omaha (En, July 5), but its plans to buy a 25.5 percent interest in Time Warner Entertainment is a camplication. However, Time Warner is devisting itself of about 100,000 subscribers in U S West territory with FCC approval in mind.