Digital Cable Entices Sony (Dated April 7, 2004)

Intro Within Sony Electronics 90-acre campus in Rancho Bernardo, the nerve centers for three separate cable television systems - each with the power to deliver hundreds of channels - churn out digital signals. These rooms - full of flashing monitors, TV screens and racks of black boxes connected by twisted cables - aren't a sign that Sony is getting into the cable TV business. Instead, they're an indication of Sony's commitment to breaking down a dual dominance of two rivals in the $4 billion-a-year market for digital cable set-top boxes. Using the three cable "head ends" as research labs, Sony has developed a budding technology called Passage. Passage essentially allows digital set-top boxes using Sony Passage technology to work with any cable system. Sony is licensing the technology widely to rivals in hopes of prying open the market for cable boxes. Right now, digital cable subscribers most likely get their set-top box from one of two companies - Motorola or Scientific Atlanta. The two giants control up to 85 percent of the market. Their systems use proprietary encryption technology, meaning they're not interchangeable.

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D.T.'s Reply:

Great article, but Sony is not doing enough about Passage by restricting them to bulky and cumbersome set-top boxes. Sony should be incorporating Passage into their TV sets and video recording units so that consumers just need to plug in the cable, and the coverter wizardry does the rest for them. No boxes, no A/B switches, no spider web cable behind the set. Simplicity is needed more than ever.

With Passage, I suppose the cable companies can scramble every channel, and consumers should be allowed to cherry-pick any channel they wish to pay for (broadcast, basic cable, digital, pay, ppv, etc.), thereby, "voting" for the channel with their subscription fee to the channels they choose as being relevant to their entertainment choices.

Tell Cox, Time Warner, and the others that the Brady Bunch era of set-top boxes are way over. Phase them out and put the cable box wizards inside newer TVs and video recorders. If telephones can dial any number, then video tuners should be made to tune in any channel.

Now where did I put my Brady Bunch DVD collection while I was spring cleaning the whole place? Oh well, I'll just settle for the crummy VHS Eight is Enough I taped from PAX years ago until then. Kids won't know the difference.