Michael's Insight

Kyle McSlarrow: The development of the tru2way framework

Today's guest post is written by Kyle McSlarrow, President and CEO of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association.

While Michael is away, he asked if I’d be willing to share some of my thoughts on what is happening right now with the cable industry. We at NCTA have been running our own blog – www.cabletechtalk.com – since January.  We’ve frequently recognized Michael’s posts, and I am happy to contribute here.

With this week’s announcement that LG and Funai have signed the tru2way Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), it is probably worth taking a moment to reflect on what this MOU really represents for consumers.

And, while Michael has discussed tru2way here before, some background is probably useful because there are lessons to be learned. (News flash: they don’t involve the government picking technology winners and losers).

Tru2Way for the telcos?

Reported last week at Cable Digital News, CableLabs president and CEO Dr. Dick Green made remarks at NXTComm 2008 inviting telcos to participate with cable operators in the Tru2Way standard.

"The bottom line here is that tru2way is open; it is not exclusive to cable but is available to any multichannel provider that chooses to implement it on their network and in devices. Our combined platforms would certainly attract creative, interactive applications, and they would run on any system that supports the tru2way middleware interface," Green said.

Why can't we all just get along?

I received this question recently:

Would it be possible for you to explain why there has been an ongoing issue between Sony and cable companies?

Good question.  I believe you are referring to the recently settled disagreement between Sony (and some other consumer electronic manufacturers) and the cable industry over tru2way. 

My personal view is that the consumer electronics industry has a long history of having some very strong opposing viewpoints when it comes to major technological advancements.

Testing tru2way and failing

Lots of news in the Blogosphere yesterday about a failed tru2way certification test at CableLabs when IP Democracy's Cynthia Brumfield reported that Panasonic's first attempt at certification uncovered multiple flaws.  Quoting an unnamed source close to the testing,

the first certification test of the technology is a "disaster of spectacular proportions."

I'm told by the folks at CableLabs that it's not unusual for new technology testing to uncover multiple significant flaws.  That's what testing is all about. 

Bloggers say set-top boxes likely to be around for a while

With the news that Sony has agreed to include the cable industry's Tru2Way platform in new televisions coming to market, some news outlets and blogs predicted the "death of the cable box." Not so fast, say IP Democracy and The Bauminator.

Cynthia Brumfield at IP Democracy lists four reasons why she thinks that cable set-top boxes won't disappear overnight.

Sony Signs Up for Cable's Tru2Way

In a major breakthrough, Sony has agreed to include the cable industry's Tru2Way platform in some of their new digital televisions.

Multichannel News yesterday reported,

The binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) reached by Sony and the six operators addresses how two-way, cable-ready products will be brought to market with interactive services like video-on-demand, digital video recording and interactive programming guides.

The deal also provides new ways for content providers, consumer-electronics manufacturers, information-technology companies and cable operators to cooperate in “evolving the tru2way technology” at CableLabs, the cable industry's research and development arm.

According to NCTA and Sony, key elements of the agreement relate to the deployment of a platform for "write once, run anywhere" applications and to the incorporation of secure digital interfaces that protect consumers' home recording rights along with copyright owners' rights to secure their digital content.