Weblog on the Internet and public policy, journalism, virtual community, and more from David Brake, a Canadian academic, consultant and journalist
13 June 2004

It promises ‘almost 200 television and radio channels and interactive services’ (I’m guessing mostly radio channels and time-shifted free channels) for £150 including installation starting later this year. The press release is “here”:http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=BSY.UK&script=415&layout=0&item_id=580035.

The part I find particularly interesting is the fact that Sky’s boxes have a modem. As they point out, ‘All Sky digiboxes contain an integrated modem and therefore are capable of accessing online services including e-mail, SMS text messaging and public service information from Directgov.’ I wish them every success since the government foolishly failed to mandate modems for terrestrial DTV set top boxes (see “a previous blog.org posting”:https://blog.org/archives/cat_digital_tv.html#000924) and thereby missed a chance to tackle the digital divide.

Thanks to Tech Digest for the news

3 Comments

  1. It’s worth noting that the cards in the set top boxes have a two year lifespan; nobody’s sure what’s going to happen after that.

    Comment by Ben — 13 June 2004 @ 3:52 pm

  2. 200 channels with nothing on them was the description I heard!

    Comment by Anonymous — 15 June 2004 @ 11:02 pm

  3. 200 channels with nothing on them was the description I heard!

    Comment by Ian — 15 June 2004 @ 11:02 pm

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