Cablevision hammers Moto, Cisco with Samsung tru2way box deal

Cablevision (NYSE: CVC), an MSO that has historically operated outside the box when it comes to, of all things, set-top boxes, is at it again. In a report in Light Reading Cable, the MSO confirmed that it has agreed to purchase tru2way-equipped boxes from Samsung.

The deal, or at least the announcement of same, is a far cry from the most publicized instance of Cablevision trying to break the Motorola (NYSE: MOT)-Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) (then General Instrument-Scientific-Atlanta) set-top duopoly. The MSO made a much bigger splash--literally, the press conference was held during a hurricane--with an announcement that it would buy $1 billion worth of set tops from Sony and literally transform the cable industry.

The Samsung deal, which has some of the same duopoly-busting characteristics, was leaked much more quietly as an obviously wiser Cablevision declined to tell Light Reading how many boxes it would buy or even when it would start deploying them.

For more:
- see this story
- and this history
- and this historical perspective

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