More on that Tivo modem; QoS for Video

[HDFootyMan]

http://www.lightreading.com/document...treading_gnews

Among the tidbits shared today, the MSO noted that a dedicated internal modem capable of delivering HD video and other online services will grace the box without impacting a customer's regular broadband connection. (See Virgin Media Sheds Light on TiVo Plan.)

Virgin didn't say as much, but sources who are familiar with the project say the operator will allocate spectrum for those set-tops across its existing Docsis 3.0 architecture, which today is being used to offer best-effort 50Mbit/s and 100Mbit/s downstream cable modem service tiers. On top of that, it's believed that Virgin will also apply QoS to video that's delivered to those boxes over a dedicated IP data path, creating an expressway of sorts for broadband-delivered video. (See Virgin Media CEO Disses DSL and Virgin Offers 100 Mbit/s.)

The set-top's internal modem "will provide dedicated connectivity for video and TiVo-based apps, but won't be a regular broadband connection per se," a Virgin Media spokesman tells Light Reading Cable via email. However, that dedicated pipe won't interfere with a customer's regular broadband connection, he adds.

...The question now is whether Virgin will apply QoS to all Web-sourced video that's piped in to the new Cisco/TiVo boxes or if it will use the new, controlled environment to serve video and other content only from a "walled garden" that features partners that have agreements with the operator. The OTT partnership concept is not foreign to TiVo, as it already has video relationships in the US with Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) and Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX), among others. (See Cox, TiVo Strike a DVR Deal and New TiVo DVRs Built for Web & Cable Content.)