Hasta La Gadget!

Microsoft and NBC have had what you might call a complicated relationship. They’ve been separated in the TV space ever since MSNBC became a solely NBC-owned entity in 2005, but the online fling has carried on to this day. If Daily Beast‘s tipsters are right, however, NBC may get a little less ambiguous with its relationship status and kick Microsoft to the curb. The now Comcast-owned NBCUniversal is supposedly irked at having to share equal control over the MSNBC website and wants to send Microsoft packing, buying out Redmond’s 50 percent stake. While the existing management would stay, MSNBC’s online staff would quit Microsoft’s campus and hop over to an NBCNews.com domain to reflect their newfound independence. An NBC representative wouldn’t confirm that an agreement had been signed, but did say talks had taken place — certainly much more of a response than most rumors get. With a signed deal rumored in a matter of “days,” there won’t be long to wait before we learn whether or not Microsoft gets dumped once and for all.

Filed under: Internet

Microsoft and NBC rumored calling it splitsville on the web, MSNBC.com to get friend-zoned originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jul 2012 16:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  The Daily Beast  | Email this | Comments

Comcast and Boxee are collaborating on a new system that could eventually replace CableCARD and allow third-party set-top boxes like the Boxee Box to access encrypted all-digital cable broadcasts. The two companies detailed the proposed approach in a joint FCC filing, initially using an external cable box that would hook up to STBs via ethernet, but eventually migrating to a licensed integrated digital transport adapter (Integrated DTA) that would provide a more streamlined solution.

Boxee and the cable companies have been at each others’ throats in recent months over proposals for encrypting basic cable channels. Such a move, the company argued, would unnecessarily prevent third-party media devices from accessing basic tier channels, forcing viewers into buying STBs directly from cable companies.

Those companies, of course, want to shift to full digital encryption as soon as possible, hence the proposed  two-stage solution to Boxee’s complaints. “The initial solution involves the development as soon as possible of a high-definition digital transport adapter with an ethernet connector (“E-DTA”)” the letter to the FCC says. “This solution would enable a customer with a third-party device to access basic tier channels directly through an ethernet input on such third-party device or via the home network, and to change channels remotely in the E-DTA via a DLNA protocol.”

Although swift, the external adapter could introduce issues around integration with other features in third-party hardware. So, a more longer-term system is also planned, around “the creation of a licensing path for integrating DTA technology into third-party devices (“Integrated DTA”). Such a device could access encrypted basic tier channels without the need for a cable operator-supplied DTA or set-top box.”

Both companies believe the solution is the best way to ensure cable channels are protected but not limited in their availability. In a key difference from current authentication systems, meanwhile, there’s no mention of CableCARD-based technology, with hints that this could eventually be the all-digital replacement to that system.

[via Zatz Not Funny]

Boxee and Comcast reveal cable encryption workaround is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.