Interactive TV services company Digeo on Monday unveiled Moxi, software that infuses set-top boxes with digital recording and storage features. The unveiling comes shortly after Digeo's March acquisition of Moxi, started by former WebTV co-founder Steve Perlman. The combined company hopes to license its interactive TV software to the next generation of broadband set-top devices.
The first of these devices will be manufactured by Motorola and sold to Charter Communications' cable subscribers. Called the Motorola BMC8000, the digital set-top box equipped with Moxi technology will include a hard drive and a 3D graphics engine, among other features. Charter will begin selling the BMC8000 later this year.
Vulcan Ventures, the investment firm of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, owns a stake in Charter and invested in Diego after it acquired Moxi.
Separately, Charter said it will begin selling Motorola's DCP501 Home Theater System to its subscribers at the end of the current quarter. The DCP501 is a digital set-top box crossbred with a stereo and DVD player. The component connects to a broadband cable that lets people access interactive TV features while it also acts as a DVD-CD-MP3 player, an amplifier and an AM/FM stereo.
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