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Microsoft today revealed a deal with a cable television consortium that will allow PC vendors to offer digital-cable-ready Windows Media Center PCs by next December. This move edged Microsoft a step closer to its vision of offering a complete home digital entertainment system through PCs running Windows XP Media Center Edition OS.

Microsoft has been working with Cable Television Laboratories (CableLabs), a nonprofit cable-research consortium, for two years. The technology partners have developed technology specifications for adding support for a CableCard module on Windows Media Center PCs, according to Justin Hutchinson, group product manager of the Windows client division at Microsoft.

In addition, Microsoft and CableLabs have documented final approval of Windows Media Digital Rights Management (DRM) as the PC CableCard module's content-protection technology. This will allow Media Center PCs to receive one-way digital cable content from digital cable providers without having to use a set-top box, Hutchinson said.

"It's really a first step in a relationship we're going to build between Microsoft and the U.S. cable industry to deliver premium digital content and high-definition content via digital cable to Media Center PCs," Hutchinson said.

Hardware Prep Begins

Digital cable providers give customers CableCards; when plugged directly into hardware that supports them, these cards enable users to receive premium digital content such as programming from Cinemax, HBO, Starz, and other channels.

Between now and next December, Microsoft and CableLabs will work with hardware vendors--including Dell, Gateway, and Toshiba--to ensure that their Windows Media Center PCs and notebooks support the hardware specifications for CableCard modules equipped with Windows DRM. Once the computers are certified by CableLabs and begin shipping, Windows Media Center PC users will be able to obtain cards from their digital cable providers that plug directly into their computers and offer direct access to whatever cable programming the customers purchase.

Customers of these new Windows Media Center PCs will be able to watch and record digital cable and high-definition content, but they won't be able to purchase on-demand content such as movies that cable companies sell, since the cards will support one-way content only, said Joe Wilcox, a senior analyst at Jupiter Research.

Still, if all goes smoothly and these PCs are ready to ship by December 2006, the deal with CableLabs will advance Microsoft's plan to replace traditional home entertainment technologies with Windows Media Center PCs, he said.

Interoperability Testing

CableLabs plans to host interoperability events so that vendors working on products based on these specifications can test products in CableLabs facilities and conduct formal certification testing. More information about the OpenCable project is available at the OpenCable site.

To date, Microsoft has sold more than 4 million Windows XP Media Center Edition licenses, and more than 130 PC manufacturers around the world market Media Center PCs. The cable industry supports more than 370 models of digital televisions manufactured by 22 companies that can display one-way cable content via CableCards.