Motorola’s broadband unit has licensed conditional access (CA) technology from French telecom Viaccess for use in three of its most popular digital set-top boxes.
The combined products, to be available to overseas cable and satellite TV operators first, makes it easier to offer subscription, pay-per-view and other services, to viewers.
The deal was announced this morning at the IBC 2003 trade show in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Neither the duration nor value was disclosed.
“The integration of Viaccess underscores the flexibility of our DVi platform to support multiple applications and CA technologies,” said Paul King, a Motorola vice president and general manager.
Motorola’s DVi platform handles digital cable signals and costs less to deploy than basic analog cable set-tops. At the same time, it offers more channels, a better user-interface and the ability to handle pay-per-view orders, Motrola said.
Related products in the line have additional features including: hyperlinking; real-time reverse-path communications; video-on-demand (VOD), thin-client TV-based Internet, and electronic program guides (EPGs), Internet access and gaming and PC routing and IP telephony.
Motorola, based outside of Chicago, is best know for its wireless handsets.
But in recent months it has upped its efforts in the consumer broadband market as users look to link multiple TVs, audio-visual equipment, computers, gaming consoles and other devices into a single home network.