Louisville, Colorado, March 14, 2007—Japan CableLabs and CableLabs® have signed an agreement to further align the development of cable technology in Japan and the US. The agreement provides Japan CableLabs access to CableLabs' specifications including DOCSIS®, OpenCable™ and PacketCable™, and test plans, thereby assuring greater consistency across cable technologies developed for Japan and the North American markets.

The agreement assures Japan CableLabs also will have access to draft specifications for these projects, including proposed engineering changes to these specifications, to allow for Japanese adaptations to be included in the specifications while they are being developed. In addition, Japan CableLabs will be able to participate in CableLabs' vendor meetings or other project meetings. The relationship between Japan CableLabs and CableLabs will be governed by appropriate access agreements and NDAs to assure confidentiality of the information exchanged between the two organizations.

“Japan CableLabs would like to contribute to the benefit of cable customers and the expansion of cable industries in both countries, particularly as voice, video and data technologies converge. This agreement will be a remarkable milestone towards the frequent exchange of technical information between two organizations and the development of open, standards-based technologies for both cable industries,” said Japan CableLabs President, M. Nakamura.

“Through this new relationship, Japan CableLabs and CableLabs will identify opportunities to more closely align their technical initiatives in areas of common focus, including specification development, product testing and standards activities, resulting in a more robust set of products and services available to consumers in Japan and North America,” stated Dr. Richard R. Green, President and Chief Executive Officer of CableLabs.

New technical standards must be developed in a timely manner for the cable industry in the torrential trend toward network digitalization. Both parties have agreed to cooperate in developing specifications for the areas of high-speed data transmission, Voice over IP, home networking and digital broadcast applications for the benefit of cable customers in both countries.

Both Japan CableLabs and CableLabs serve as the primary interface for cable-technology-related specification development and testing for their cable industry members. The joint agreement between these two organizations will foster closer cooperation with their respective cable operators to promote efficiencies, lower costs to consumers and to encourage competition among equipment suppliers through common platforms and interfaces.

About Japan CableLabs
Japan CableLabs was founded in 2000 and has been developing specifications for actual implementation of cable systems in Japan. Based on its activities and achievements, Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications awarded Japan CableLabs the merit prize in 2005. Japan CableLabs has currently started the certification program for digital broadcast equipment for domestic market using their test bed.

About CableLabs
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 and www.ebif.tv.

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.