CMC, Motorola Deliver 'Video-Rich' Interactive TV
Firms' National Authorization Service Upgraded To Support EBIF Video Apps
Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 7/16/2009 1:47:26 PM
Comcast Media Center and Motorola have upgraded their jointly operated National Authorization Service (NAS) for smaller cable operators to support interactive video applications, including a "video-rich navigation" service that displays live channels in an interactive program guide.
The NAS operating platform now supports an EBIF-compliant version of the video-rich navigation app, offered through CMC's HITS AxIS interactive TV service, developed by CMC and GuideWorks, a joint venture between Comcast and Rovi (formerly Macrovision Solutions.
The NAS service lets cable headends receive, process, control and distribute digital video and services without requiring a local Motorola Digital Access Control (DAC) system. Other recent enhancement to the NAS platform include support for Motorola's APEX edge QAMs, which support standards-based video and high-speed data interfaces and provides field-swappable QAM modules and redundant swappable power supplies.
"The greatest advantage of the innovations that we're continuing to make to the NAS platform is that they allow system operators to generate additional revenues by deploying advanced services without having to replace widely deployed set-tops or engage in costly overhauls of their existing headend architecture," CMC chief operating officer Gary Traver said in a statement.
Other interactive applications in the HITS AxIS portfolio, which is being beta tested by four MSOs, include a Yellow Pages on TV service customized to local markets and request for information and T-commerce applications. CMC said it is currently working with more than 20 ITV developers and content providers.
