[opendtv] News: Satellite TV snubbing Microsoft
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 11:45:09 -0500
http://msn-cnet.com.com/Satellite+TV+snubbing+Microsoft/2100-1025_3-5544324.html?part=msn-cnet&subj=ns_2510&tag=mymsn
Satellite TV snubbing Microsoft
Last modified: January 21, 2005, 4:00 AM PST
By John Borland Staff Writer, CNET News.com
With the era of high-definition television drawing closer,
Microsoft's bid to provide one of the market's core video technology
standards is having trouble getting into orbit.
In recent weeks, announcements have come from major satellite
television companies including DirecTV that they will be using a
rival technology, developed through traditional standards
organizations, instead of Microsoft's competing video format, for
their upcoming high-definition services.
Even Voom, the satellite HDTV company Microsoft touted as a supporter
earlier in the year, recently said it would use the rival MPEG-4 AVC
video format, or "codec," beginning early in 2005.
The satellite companies' moves, triggered by an increasing need for
greater bandwidth, by no means count Microsoft out in other
potentially larger markets such as cable television and online video.
But the decisions by DirecTV and others show that the familiarity of
the MPEG standard could be a difficult hurdle to clear.
"They really needed to start looking at some advanced video formats,
because they needed that efficiency," Yankee Group analyst Adi Kashar
said. "But some of the telephone companies seem to be making the
opposite choice."
Indeed, the satellite television companies have been among the first
large media companies to settle as a group on which technology they
will use as they begin to offer high-definition video. But cable
television, telephone, Internet video and other companies are all
ultimately moving toward replacing today's familiar video with a
supercrisp digital successor, offering potentially high stakes for
companies that can provide the technological foundations.
Microsoft is one of those companies, and it has veered sharply away
from its traditional practices in hopes of capturing a piece of that
market. Its Windows Media technology, like the MPEG AVC video
standard, allows companies to shrink massive high-definition video
files into smaller packages, so that more video can be sent over the
same amount of wireless or broadband bandwidth.
In 2003, Microsoft submitted its Windows Media 9 video format to the
Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers standard-setting
organization for ratification as a high-definition video standard. In
anticipation of that, two separate DVD groups have included
Microsoft's technology as part of their next-generation disc
standards.
The overture to standards bodies was aimed in large part at
reassuring broadcasters and large media companies, which are used to
working with standard, instead of proprietary, formats.
But for now, a growing and influential portion of the satellite
industry seems set on MPEG 4.
Voom, a relatively small player, announced late last year that it
would use MPEG 4 for its broadcasts beginning in mid-2005. Echostar
Communications said at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las
Vegas that it would make a push into high-definition video with its
Dish Network beginning this fall, also using MPEG 4.
The News Corp.-owned DirecTV announced at the same show that it was
moving to MPEG 4, providing a demonstration of the technology over a
satellite transmission. The company said it would ultimately replace
the high-definition set-top boxes previously purchased by its
customers, but it has not said whether it would pay part or all of
those costs.
A low-orbit silver lining for Microsoft has come from Sirius
Satellite Radio, which said earlier this month that it would use the
company's video technology for its just-announced video service.
The picture looks somewhat different on the ground, although it
remains fuzzy. Cable companies have yet to indicate which direction
they're going, but at least one phone company--giant SBC
Communications--is already working closely with Microsoft to develop
video services over its high-speed Internet lines. That could tip the
scales toward company's video codec, but an SBC representative said
the phone company was still deciding between Microsoft and MPEG.
Microsoft also has deals with BellSouth, Telecom Italia and a handful
of other telecommunications providers around the world. But these
deals largely focus on the ability to deliver video using Internet
technology rather than the underlying video format. A smaller number
of companies, including U.S. Digital Television, have said they would
use the VC-1 video format.
Analysts say it will be easier for firms which don't have any
historic investment or stake in the MPEG standards to adopt
Microsoft's technology over time.
"Telephone companies going into the business of offering video seem
to be very interested" in Microsoft's tools, said Forrester Research
analyst Josh Bernoff.
Microsoft itself says the process is still barely under way, with its
VC-1 technology still in the last stages of reaching
official-standard status. Company executives say media and
communications firms will increasingly want to do more than simply
broadcast video--offering video on demand, or shows that can be
watched just a few times or transferred to portable devices, for
example.
The company also predicts that set-top box makers will begin building
support for both formats into their products, giving media companies
more flexibility to use both, or even to switch between the two for
different applications.
"Our hope is that as time moves on, not just the satellite companies,
but everyone, will begin looking at the future business models that
VC-1 and Windows Media provide," said Jordi Ribas, director of
technical strategy for Microsoft's Windows Digital Media Division.
"We do not think they are closed doors."
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