Sony partners with cable providers on digital cable ready TVs

The electronics maker said Tuesday that it will work with six major cable operators to include digital cable technology in its next-generation television sets.

With the new sets, consumers will no longer be required to use a set-top box in order to receive advanced services. Sony has penned an agreement with Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, Charter, Cablevision, and Bright House Networks, which collectively provide service to about 82 percent of cable-receiving households. The agreement is essentially a memorandum of understanding on how channel guide and digital program delivery technology will be rolled out to the consumer.

"We are very pleased with this announcement," CableLabs spokesperson Mike Schwartz told BetaNews.

The technology used is called tru2way (formerly known as OpenCable or OCAP), which first rolled out at CES in January. At the time, Sony was not listed among the partners, although Panasonic and LG showed off television models based on the technology.

Peripherally, the technology is related to CableCARD, and the company behind tru2way -- CableLabs -- is behind both. The difference here is that CableCARD is a removable unit for retail devices, whereas tru2way is the middleware that provides for the control of functionality.

The technology eliminates the need for an additional converter or receiver box, simplifying the cable installation process and allowing for the use of advanced features such as on-demand, DVR functions, and program guides.

Sony's move could very well solidify tru2way as the standard for non-set top deployments. While CableCARD was intended to do the same thing, it did not garner enough support from the industry to make it viable.

The potential losers from these deals are Motorola and Scientific Atlanta. The two companies earn a significant portion of their revenues from the sale of their set-top boxes to consumers.

But more importantly, the deal puts Sony on a competitive scale against companies such as Motorola, TiVo, and Macrovision, all of which have a stake in not only pushing switching technology to the nation's households, but in controlling the slate of programming piped through to their digital TVs.