PowerTV Inc. said it will fuse its TV-based electronic-mail, Web-browsing and
chat applications into one bundle, allowing users to toggle between them on the
fly with wireless keyboards or remote controls.
Those applications -- 'SofaMAIL,' 'SofaSURF' and 'SofaCHAT' -- will continue
to be powered by PowerTV's operating system and middleware engine, which have
been shipped in more than 6 million digital-cable set-tops, including
Scientific-Atlanta Inc.'s 'Explorer' and Pioneer New Media Technologies Inc.'s
'Voyager' boxes.
PowerTV said forthcoming set-tops from Pace Micro Technology plc and
Panasonic Consumer Electronics will also support the applications bundle.
The combination will allow cable operators to roll out multiple applications
simultaneously and to minimize interactive-TV-deployment costs, PowerTV
said.
The vendor added that it will begin to offer the new bundle commercially in
the third quarter.
