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SBC Joint Venture to Launch Home Entertainment Service
SAN ANTONIO -- It's a TV set. No, it's a computer. No, it's a digital music and photo player. In fact, it's all three -- and it's on the way to homes throughout SBC Communications' service area.A new joint venture between SBC Communications Inc. and 2Wire Inc. will deliver a home entertainment service that integrates satellite TV programming, digital video recording, video on demand, and Internet content including Yahoo!, officials announced yesterday. Photos and music via a new set-top box will be tied together with the SBC Yahoo! user interface.The joint venture is part of a two-pronged SBC video strategy to extend home entertainment video services to customers through either high-speed fiber or DSL. The service will combine content delivered by broadband and satellite into one package, giving consumers a way bring entertainment content to their TV screens and stereos. The joint venture builds on the recently announced expanded alliance with Yahoo! Inc. The offering will be available to customers who have both SBC DISH Network and SBC Yahoo! DSL services and is expected to roll out in mid-2005. The service will include a satellite TV receiver, digital video recorder and storage for digital photos and music, according to Ed Cholerton, chief executive officer of the newly formed SBC Media Solutions LLC and vice president of SBC DSL. The 2Wire MediaPortal technology will provide fully integrated SBC Yahoo! DSL, SBC/DISH Network satellite TV and home-networking services and will allow customers to access photos and music and to schedule their digital video recorder remotely from any Web-connected computer through the SBC Yahoo! user interface. A future enhancement will allow remote access through Cingular Wireless phones. Customers also will have total integration on their TV screens using a remote control. An agreement with EchoStar Communications Corp. to include SBC/DISH Network will help ensure that broadcast content works seamlessly with the new set-top box service, offering customers unprecedented ease of use for digital video recording, remote access and video on demand, according to Nolan Daines, executive vice president of Broadband for EchoStar.Key benefits will include: Satellite TV. Subscribers will have a variety of SBC/DISH Network satellite entertainment programming packages available. Video on Demand. Customers will be able to download and view on their TV screen a variety of movies from different entertainment services, all delivered via high-speed DSL connection. Music on Demand. Customers will have the ability to listen to music from Yahoo! Launchcast Internet Radio via their DSL connection and deliver it to their home stereos, entertainment systems and networked PCs Messaging. In the future, SBC local phone service customers will be able to view Caller ID and call-log information on their TV screen. Another future enhancement will integrate the recently launched SBC Unified Communications Service, which combines wireline and wireless voice mail, e-mail and faxes into one mailbox. Photos. Customers will be able to download digital photographs directly from their digital cameras to the set-top box or view the saved photos on a TV screen from a networked PC. Customers will also be able to access and share their SBC Yahoo! Photos. Remote Access. Through any Web-connected computer, customers can remotely program their set-top boxes to record satellite entertainment, download movies on demand, and access their photos and personal music collections as well as access files on computers connected to their home networks. In the future, customers will have remote access using a Cingular wireless phone. The home entertainment service is separate from, but complements, the recently announced plans to deliver advanced next-generation television services called IPTV over the SBC fiber network, an initiative dubbed Project Lightspeed. Customers will not need access to the fiber network to subscribe to the home entertainment service, officials said. SBC Media Solutions LLC will develop and market the set-top box. Cholerton has been appointed chief executive officer of the new company. Brian Hinman, 2Wire president and CEO, will assume the role of president, SBC Media Solutions. Visit SBC Communications Inc.: www.sbc.com"