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HBO Emboldens Transition to MPEG-4
21 Jun, 2007
HBO announced at the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo that all of their HDTV programming will be distributed in MPEG-4. HBO will distribute a total of 26 channels in HD MPEG-4 by sometime in 2008. This HBO decision has implications for all video service providers, with particular impact on operators who operate in an MPEG-2 environment.
MPEG-2 operators will either have to transcode the HBO MPEG-4 signal back down to MPEG-2, or upgrade their networks (and customer set top boxes) to offer MPEG-4 distribution. To make things a little more complicated, HBO will encode their signal at 8 Mbps, and may mandate no further compression of that signal. This impacts TelcoTV operators who are utilizing a DSL infrastructure, because it will become a ‘bandwidth’ hog, compared to other MPEG-4 signals. The end effect may be a competitive advantage to DBS and cable MSOs who can more easily distribute an 8 Mbps HBO HD signal, thus providing a potentially better HBO viewing experience.
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Clearwire Outlines 4G World Domination Plans
12 Jun, 2008
Clearwire is feeling quite confident these days. The emerging WiMAX provider held an investor conference and outlined their plan for 4G domination. We're "building the communications company of the future, today," says Clearwire CEO Ben Wolf. Clearwire chief strategy officer Scott Richardson calls it "the second coming of the Internet." It was quite the WiMAX pep rally. Clearwire executives say they intend to build a seamless nationwide 4G network way ahead of their competitors, namely Verizon and AT&T.
From a powerpointware perspective, the strategy looks real impressive. Clearwire intends to offer a five product suite of services which will include residential voice and broadband, mobile voice and broadband, and mobile entertainment. They intend to leverage their investor partners considerably, gaining access to tens of millions of existing subscriber relationships immediately. With their cable company partners, they intend to extend the cable entertainment experience "into the palms of consumer's hands." They intend to utilize Google's Android platform for a suite of "compelling" mobile applications. Intel will contribute by powering millions of end user devices and do for WiMAX what it did for Wi-Fi, in effect bringing it to the mainstream. Wolf says that the average consumer's total household spend on communications, ranging from $109-$258, is up for grabs, and they intend to capture as much of it as possible.