Cisco seeing 'huge amount' of interest in hybrid TV/ Web gateways

ATLANTA -- With subscribers spending more time each day on the Web and mobile devices, most of the traffic to Cisco's (Nasdaq: CSCO) exhibit here at the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo was focused on products that shuttle content to tablets and mobile phones, and deliver interactive video and applications to the TV.

Chris Losack, Videoscape technical marketing manager, Cisco, demonstrating the product at SCTE Cable-tec Expo.

Cisco is seeing a "huge amount" of interest in set-tops and gateway devices that allow operators to deliver a hybrid of live TV and Web applications to subscribers, Ken Morse, CTO of the company's video services group, told FierceCable.

Morse said he expects one of Cisco's U.S. customers to deploy its new hybrid gateway, which the company has been calling G8, or generation eight, by the end of next year. He wouldn't name the customer. "2012 is the year where we see a lot of this start to happen," he added.

Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is testing set-tops on a system in Augusta, Ga., that would allow it to deliver live TV and interactive applications to subscribers. It plans a nationwide launch of its next generation Xfinity TV service next year.

Cisco was demonstrating the type of applications that Comcast is expected to offer at its SCTE Expo exhibit this week. The Videoscape platform Cisco showed attendees included an application that allows subscribers to view TV shows and movies recommended by friends through social networks.

Cisco rival Motorola Mobility also demonstrated a social TV application at its SCTE Expo booth, which was essentially a white-label version of social TV applications such as Miso and Get Glue that cable operators could offer to subscribers.

Morse said he expects more cable operators to experiment with offering new products and services to small groups of subscribers. While cable operators previously had a strategy of waiting until they could widely deploy new products to all customers, Morse said he has seen the cable industry adapt to change by taking more of a "try it and see mentality."

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