Title: General director, organizations’ distribution and telecommunication area, Globo Cabo. Mr. Pluciennik supervises the two leading pay TV distribution platforms in South America: cable operator Globo Cabo, which has more than 1.6 million subscribers, and Sky/Brasil, a satellite operator with more than 700,000 subscribers.
Last week Globo Cabo became the world’s first cable operator to test Microsoft TV Basic Digital Solution, which is targeted to first-generation set-top boxes, installing the first of 250 specially designed Samsung set-top boxes (which are generally considered 2000-class devices). The system will initially offer interactive features in its first trials. If all goes well, future services would include Microsoft TV Advanced, Microsoft TV Server and Microsoft TV Access Channel Server.
Microsoft TV Basic: “Microsoft TV Basic is not only a thinner-thus cheaper-box, but a more TV-centric solution, thanks to NDS and Microsoft’s new understanding of what a cable operator should deliver. NDS provided interactive TV software to British Sky Broadcasting and Sky/Brasil.” (MTV Basic is based on NDS’s Core software. NDS also provided the conditional access, or security, technology and some of the infrastructure for multiple camera viewing.)
Killer app: “For Brazil, it’s enhanced TV-interaction with the broadcast using a remote control.
“We have a very popular show called `Voce Decide’ [`You Decide’]. Hundreds of thousands call in-an estimated 200,000 calls in 20 minutes-to select an ending to the drama from choices offered by the network. It causes congestion; you have to use two devices, and you don’t necessarily watch what you want to watch-you watch what the average Brazilian wants to watch. With enhanced TV, you would select the ending you want to watch with one device. And you can make comments to other viewers.”
“You could also watch a soccer game from various camera angles, or split the screen into multiple views. A third possibility would be t-commerce: pressing remote-control buttons to buy things while watching TV, or doing all your banking using the remote control.”
Availability: “We’re not going to buy the boxes. We’re making them available to customers through retail stores. Other manufacturers will eventually be able to use the software technology and add their own solutions to make other boxes.”