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Panasonic and Comcast Agree to License OCAP Middleware for U.S. Cable Market

Posted on: Thursday, 23 September 2004, 06:00 CDT

SECAUCUS, N.J., Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. , best known by its Panasonic brand, today announced that Panasonic and Comcast have agreed to license Panasonic's Open Cable Application Platform (OCAP(TM)) compliant middleware for the U.S. cable market. This middleware was developed by Panasonic and will be installed in digital cable set top boxes (STBs) to be built for Comcast, and also used in consumer devices that will be available at retail. The OCAP platform ensures interoperability with digital interactive cable-ready digital TVs and cable STBs.

The two companies also have an existing agreement for Comcast to purchase Panasonic-designed and -made OCAP-compliant STBs. Under this agreement, Panasonic and Comcast will also jointly develop a certification system for OCAP-ready devices and digital TV. Under the certification system, OCAP devices developed by different manufacturers will be tested to ensure interoperability and compliance with OCAP standards. Through this collaboration with Comcast, Panasonic hopes to accelerate the adoption of OCAP in the United States.

"We are pleased that Panasonic's technology has been accepted by America's leading cable service provider Comcast," said Dr. Paul Liao, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Matsushita Electric Corporation of America. "OCAP provides the software platform that opens a new world of systems flexibility for cable operators, and is an essential component to the future growth of interactive applications. We expect this agreement will expedite the adoption of OCAP and digital interactive cable-ready TV and deliver benefits to both consumers and the cable industry."

"We are enthusiastic about our working relationship with Panasonic," said Steve Silva, Executive Vice President of New Business Development for Comcast. "This work will help make the entire OpenCable hardware and software end-to-end solution a reality. It also will benefit other manufacturers who will build devices, application programmers who will have OCAP as a national platform for application development, and other cable operators as together, Panasonic and Comcast work to make portability available."

The Open Cable Application Platform is an interactive cable standard that will be common to U.S. cable systems. An OCAP-ready digital television application that works with one cable operator in one area can also work with another cable operator in another area. With an OCAP-compliant receiver, a user can receive and send signals enabling a variety of interactive services, such as Video on Demand (VOD), Electronic Program Guide (EPG), home banking and interactive games, along with other e-commerce applications.

Until now, cable operators have determined their own proprietary delivery systems, requiring different cable set-top boxes to receive and decode signals from their propriety systems. Digital television receivers enabled with OCAP- compliant middleware would permit Java(TM)-based advanced interactive services. As a result users can enjoy a variety of these interactive services using a single DTV receiver regardless who their cable operator is or where they are located.

Panasonic developed the world's first OCAP-ready end-to-end system prototype utilizing a real head end, real applications and the OCAP middleware that will be licensed to Comcast under this agreement. The prototype system was exhibited at the 2004 International CES in January. Panasonic plans to introduce an OCAP-compliant set-top cable box to the U.S. market in 2005.

About Comcast

Headquartered in Philadelphia, Comcast Cable is a division of Comcast Corporation, a developer, manager and operator of broadband cable networks and provider of programming content. With a presence in 22 of the top 25 United States markets, Comcast is one of the leading communications, media and entertainment companies in the world. Providing basic cable, Digital Cable, high-speed Internet and telephone services, Comcast is the company to look to first for the communications products and services that connect people to what's important in their lives. The company's 59,000 employees serve more than 21 million customers.

About Panasonic

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., best known for its Panasonic brand name, is a worldwide leader in the development and manufacture of electronic products for a wide range of consumer, business, and industrial needs. Based in Osaka, Japan, the company recorded consolidated sales of US$71.92 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2004. Matsushita Electric Corporation of America, the principal U.S. subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., is based in Secaucus, N.J., and is the hub of the company's U.S. marketing, sales, service and R&D operations. For more information on the company and its Panasonic brand, visit the Matsushita website at http://www.panasonic.co.jp/global/top.html or http://www.panasonic.com/ .

Panasonic

CONTACT: Will Safer, +1-201-392-6124, or saferw@us.panasonic.com, orBill Pritchard, +1-201-348-7182, or pritchardw@us.panasonic.com, both ofPanasonic; or Maggie O'Neill of Peppercom, +1-415-438-9823, ormoneill@peppercom.com

Web site: http://www.panasonic.com/

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