Louisville, Colorado, December 28, 1999—Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. (CableLabs®) announced today that major success was achieved by 14 companies working together during the recent OpenCable™ interoperability event held in Los Angeles.

Nine major consumer electronics manufacturers joined five conditional access suppliers and three headend suppliers for interoperability tests of removable security technologies, a critical component in opening the cable set-top market to greater competition, and moving cable set-top circuitry into TVs and onto retail shelves.

A significant level of interoperability was demonstrated by multiple point-of-deployment security modules (POD modules) inserted into the POD interface slots of multiple set-top "host" devices. "This kind of interoperability testing is an extremely valuable part of the whole process," said CableLabs President and CEO, Dr. Richard R. Green. "We have used this process successfully in the past with our DOCSIS cable modem program, and it has proven to accelerate the development work of the different vendors," Green added. This event proves we are on track for cable companies to deliver fully functioning POD modules by the FCC�s July 2000 deadline."

The tests were conducted in the Los Angeles facilities of MediaOne.

Three types of manufacturers participated: 1) those companies that produce "host" devices, such as set-tops, PC card receivers, and integrated TV/set-tops; 2) cable headend suppliers; and 3) companies that manufacture "PODs," or removable security "point-of-deployment" cards that handle conditional access and encryption of premium cable channels.

"This list of participants (see below) shows that OpenCable is attracting many quality manufacturers, including large, reputable consumer electronics vendors into the cable industry," said Don Dulchinos, Senior Director of Advanced Platforms and Services for CableLabs. "It�s always been a goal of OpenCable to extend removable security not just into set tops, but also into a range of devices that receive MPEG-2 digital video, related program content, and interactive applications."

OpenCable is a fast-track initiative sponsored by leading cable television companies, managed through CableLabs, with a goal of attaining interoperable digital set-top boxes and other advanced digital devices manufactured by multiple vendors.

These devices would be capable of delivering digital video, data and interactive services to a television set. The capability also may be built into consumer electronics devices, such as digital television receivers.

The tests were the second in a planned series involving POD security modules, which take the form of slide-in PCMCIA cards used in personal computers. PODs are important to the future retail set-top environment, because when consumers purchase standalone set-tops or combination TV/set-tops, they need a way to order and to receive encrypted content—such as premium cable channels—from cable operators.

Participating Vendors:

Set-tops/TVs:

• General Instrument
• LG Electronics
• Microsoft
• Panasonic
• Samsung
• Philips
• Scientific-Atlanta
• Thomson Consumer Electronics
• Zenith Electronics

Headends:

• Divicom
• General Instrument
• Scientific-Atlanta

POD Modules:

• General Instrument
• Mindport/SCM Microsystems
• Nagra/SCM Microsystems
• Scientific-Atlanta
• NDS/SCM Microsystems

About CableLabs: Cable Television Laboratories (www.cablelabs.com) was founded in 1988 by members of the cable television industry. A non-profit research and development consortium, CableLabs delivers innovations that enable cable operators to be the providers of choice in their markets. Cable operators from around the world are members. CableLabs maintains additional web sites at www.cablenet.org.

CableLabs® is a registered trademark of Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. Other CableLabs marks are listed at http://www.cablelabs.com/certqual/trademarks. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.