Microsoft Corp EVP Steve Ballmer says the company invested $1bn in cable outfit Comcast Corp in the hope that it will re-energize the cable industry as a whole in the same way it claims its investment in UUNET Technologies Inc some years back bootstrapped the ISP industry. It wants the cable industry to pull its finger out and get on with digitizing services and connections to homes so it can sell lots of Windows CE and other system software through vehicles like its WebTV devices. Microsoft points to the general jumping of joy of cable company shares to show the effect it’s Comcast investment has already had.
