Liberate Technologies scored a significant win
in the hotly-contested interactive television (i-TV) middleware
market Thursday by winning an agreement to supply its
interactive platform to Charter Communications.
Charter will include the platform in set-top boxes that it will
distribute to its customers throughout the U.S. The distribution
of the new set-tops will begin in St. Louis, where Liberate and
Charter already have started a pilot program.
The two companies will work with digeo, inc., Charter’s
interactive services provider, to deliver the services to
subscribers.
Liberate is locked in battle with Microsoft, OpenTV and
PowerTV to supply cable operators and set-top vendors with
middleware that allows Net access and interactivity.
Despite the deal, Liberate said it wouldn’t change its revenue
targets or its prediction that it would be profitable in its 2003 fiscal year. It said it
expected revenues of between $14.5 million and $15 million in the fourth quarter of
fiscal year 2001, which will end on May 31. It expected revenues for the entire fiscal
year to be between $50.1 million and $50.6 million, compared to $28 million for the
previous year.