DirecTV Picks Canal Plus for Set-Top Tech

[Steve Mehs]

Canal Plus Technologies, Thomson’s digital video software solutions business, signed a contract with DirecTV in which the satellite TV service will provide Canal Plus' Mediahighway middleware platform in new digital set-top boxes.

The Java-based Mediahighway interactive solution developed for DirecTV will be ported on set-top boxes provided by multiple consumer electronics manufacturers. DirecTV customers with access to the middleware will get a simplified on-screen user interface as well as a new suite of interactive shopping, news, weather, games and sports programming services, the companies said.

Thomson’s Mediahighway product powers 15 million set-top boxes for cable, satellite and digital terrestrial networks. More than 20 digital operators and broadcasters, including Canalsatellite in France, SureWest in the United States, Astro Measat and ZeeTV in Asia, are using the interactive middleware.

From SkyReport (http://www.skyreport.com) (Used with Permission)

[DCSholtis]

So is this the end of the deal with Wink?!!!!

[Jacob S]

Well Dish, its time to get the ball rolling again and update the receivers if you want to be able to compete with Direct. I wonder if the 322, 111, and 311 are going to have a change in them as we saw when they to opentv. Hopefully they give these new receivers a good bit more memory.

[catman]

This sounds like ultimatetv . That was to be like webtv . Ultimatetv is no more .

[mnassour]

A minor clarification....the Ultimate TV service continues, only the manufacture of the receivers has stopped.

And in contrast to the Dishplayer (you know, the beta version of UTV) our boxes work reliably and in fact have just received new features through a software download. :)

And yes....we wind up paying DirecTV/Microsoft $10 per month! :(

[ramcm7]

Originally posted by mnassour
A minor clarification....the Ultimate TV service continues, only the manufacture of the receivers has stopped.

And in contrast to the Dishplayer (you know, the beta version of UTV) our boxes work reliably and in fact have just received new features through a software download. :)

And yes....we wind up paying DirecTV/Microsoft $10 per month! :(

But for those of us who bought UTV receivers at deep discounts, it is still a good deal! And, as some (advertisers?) view it as a "dead" service, we don't get force-fed the recordings the way TiVo users do.