Positioning itself to control an untapped stream of bandwidth, Microsoft on Tuesday announced a set of trials that will use the existing TV broadcast signal to beam high-speed data to PC and WebTV users.
During the trials, 12 TV broadcasters and cable programmers - from Cox Broadcasting to New England Cable News to The Paramount Stations group - will push data and program enhancements to Windows 98-equipped PCs and upgraded WebTV boxes.
They will use the vertical blanking interval - 21 lines of the broadcast spectrum that have been previously used to send information for closed captioning and teletext - to broadcast data in the form of Web pages to computer and WebTV users; a standard TV tuner will receive the broadcaster's channel. Potential content includes news, sports, stocks, headlines, and other information corresponding to the programming being broadcast.
It's a move that represents shrewd foresight on the part of Redmond, according to Gerry Kaufhold, principal multimedia analyst for research firm In-Stat. Microsoft, he said, is positioning itself for the day when the TV signal regularly brings in reams of content alongside its video stream.
"Over the next five years the ability of broadcast TV to deliver huge amounts of data increases dramatically," said Kaufhold.
These trials are part of the software behemoth's ongoing quest to put itself and its technology wherever bandwidth promise looms.
"This is just part of a generic push by Microsoft to get more things going on that deliver Microsoft content into the home," he said. "They are at the hub of all the activity that has to do with pushing high-speed data into homes."
Over today's standard definition TV broadcast, the vertical blanking interval is capable of data rates of around 128 Kbps, Kaufhold said. As digital TV - a broadcast signal that delivers a much higher-resolution image - takes hold, the accompanying vertical blanking interval portion of a stream will be capable of data rates as high as 10-Mbps.
When that happens, Kaufhold said Microsoft wants to be ready.
In many ways resembling the original ideas for push media, the broadcast signal is seen as a one-way channel for delivering large data files, like the morning newspaper, that are too cumbersome for a standard Net connection.
In its announcement, Microsoft said the trials taking place this year preview the potential for TV programming to be enhanced even before digital television is introduced.
They will also allow broadcasters to test consumer interest and develop business models for enhanced content before digital TV hits the market.
Microsoft is supplying broadcasters with hardware and software, including a PC server running Windows NT 4.0, hardware required for vertical blanking interval injections, and a broadcast server developed using IP multicasting protocols.
