Cable firms look to gaming

Cable firms look to gaming

By Jane Wakefield
BBC News Online technology staff

Gaming via set-top box could be the next step for cable TV companies keen to transform the niche image of online gaming into a mass market money-spinner.

Cable needs to capture gaming market

Former managing director of broadband for Telewest, Dr David Docherty, has urged cable firms to take advantage of their bandwidth to become the provider of choice for the networked home.

Game consoles could either be plugged into the cable set-top box or linked wirelessly to provide players with a high-speed connection via the TV.

Gaming has already proved a winner for the satellite broadcaster Sky, with more than 1.3 million people paying to play games every week through its Sky Active service.

Smart pipe

Linking up handheld computers, gaming consoles, MP3 players and other net-enabled devices to the cable pipe is the next step for debt-laden cable firms, said Dr Docherty in a speech at the FT New Media and Broadcasting conference in London.

The internet-driven media cornucopia hasn't gone away just because investors have gone in search of other prey

David Docherty, former Telewest director

"It could change the dynamics of multi-player gaming from geeks on PCs to the mass market," he said.

"Everyone knows how obsessive young males are about gaming," he added.

Making the cable pipe smart and ensuring it remains more than a "sub-scale utility" is essential if the cable firms are to shake off their debt and become more than just providers of telephone, internet and TV services, he said.

"The general view is that cable is screwed but beneath the mountain of debt there is a perfectly functioning business," he said.

"The internet-driven media cornucopia hasn't gone away just because investors have gone in search of other prey," he added.

The satellite broadcaster Sky is already offering games via its set-top box.

It has seen the popularity of its interactive Sky Active service rise following the success of paid-for games such as Tetris, Battleships and Space Invaders.

The service also added the popular Tomb Raider game in December.

Sky now has more than 1.3 million gamers a week and 40% of these are women.

Spaghetti junction

Dr Docherty also believes that the flat-rate charge for broadband offered for cable companies is unsustainable as the amount of bandwidth users require for things such as music downloads increases.

Ntl has already capped its broadband service in a move that has angered users. Telewest, as yet, has no plans to introduce capping.

Telewest, has, however, begun to embrace the ideas of cable as the bandwidth of choice for the future networked home.

It has begun trials in the North West of England of a wireless broadband connection that will allow users to hook up their PCs via a wireless card in the back of their set-top boxes.

"We are looking at getting PDA's, consoles and PCs sharing the same information so that the cable connection recognises you as the same person," said a spokesman for Telewest.

"It will get rid of the spaghetti junction of devices in the home," he added.