Texas Instruments Inc has concluded a six-month technology trial with BellSouth Corp for the delivery of digital video services to the Atlanta, Georgia suburb of Dunwoody. BellSouth ran the wireless technology trial in an adjacent suburb to its interactive television trial in Chamblee, Georgia. That trial runs over a hybrid fiber-coaxial network and started taking paying customers at the end of April. It now has 150 households using the service. One of the reasons for running the trial in an adjacent suburb was to look at the potential of combining a wired and wireless network to offer interactive services, said the company. The wireless test used Texas Instruments’ wireless Local Multipoint Distribution Service technology. Texas’s Multipoint transported up to 160 broadcast and near video-on-demand channels, as well as 32 video-on-demand channels of entertainment to 25 apartment residences. As opposed to traditional communications economic models, the investment model for an Local Multipoint network infrastructure build-out is modular, requiring only a minimal up-front capital investment with incremental costs for adding each subscriber as services are expanded, Texas Instruments said. The six-month trial has provided Bell South important information as we continue to assess all alternatives, both wired and wireless, for delivering video services to markets in our nine Southeastern states, said Ray Vogel, BellSouth assistant vice-president. Participants in the Chamblee trial will have access to full video-on-demand services by the end of the summer. Currently they can access 56 channels including some premium channels for $24 a month and a couple of dozen movies and special interest videos on a near video-on-demand basis. Movies cost $3 each and special interest viewing costs $1 to $2. Full video-on-demand, with pause, fast forward and rewind options will be priced slightly higher. Later this summer, the participants will also be provided with high speed on-line computer access using cable modems from LANCity Inc. Hewlett-Packard Co provided video servers for the trial, with set-top boxes from Scientific Atlanta Inc and billing software from Cable Data Inc. Sybase Inc is providing its Intermedia software for the trial and this will be used to author, deliver and manage the interactive services.
