More Bad News For Moxi?

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Word on the street: Digeo’s suffering ain’t over yet:

Although I can’t get anything official from Charter, it’s well known that they are now pushing a Motorola DVR instead of the Moxi and that they (most likely) won’t be buying any more Moxis.

While Charter isn’t the only MSO deploying Moxi, I do believe they’re the largest. And if this rumor pans out, it’s not looking good for Digeo – especially after massive layoffs and retail product line euthanasia. Though, as we’ve seen in TiVo’s relationship with DirectTV, Digeo may still be able to bank revenue by providing service/support without licensing additional Moxi units to Charter.

Despite my frustration with Digeo’s CES charade, I do feel for them and hope they continue to serve MSOs and get a DVR into retail. Competition is good: It fosters industry awareness amongst consumers (especially a retail DVR), breeds innovation, and hopefully keeps pricing competitive.

19 thoughts on “More Bad News For Moxi?”

  1. *Sigh*

    I was supposed to get my MC3…MC4…DMR…whatever they’re calling it this week…months ago for MSO evaluations (not the retail product mind you). I’m so tired of this…it’s hard to watch. They had so much going for them. I love you Moxi, but you are truly the Lindsay Lohan of CE…you’re a mess.

    Regards,
    Cableric

  2. I imagine there may be another reason why Charter is pushing the Moto DVR rather than replacing the broken Digeo Moxi box.. recall that Charter can’t deploy high-end set-tops (DVRs included) with integrated security after the July 2007 FCC mandate went into effect. If Digeo actually means what it says this time around, it still has a cablecard-based product in the works for direct-to-MSO distribution, so Charter may be able to offer that one…whenever (or if) such a model makes it to market. After the baloney they pulled at CES, I’m hesitant to believe anything from them until they can show me some solid proof. anyway, i’m in contact with the Charter folks and I’ll be sure to pass along what their official line is on the Moxi situation. JB

  5. Charter did get a waiver, good through July 2008, but it’s limited to some lower end boxes, so the waiver doesn’t apply to HD and DVR set-tops. Seven models were part of the Charter waiver, i’ll have to do some searching to find out which ones were part of it, but I’ll bet that the Moxi box isn’t on the list.

  6. Update: the waiver granted to Charter covered the following models:
    – Moto DCT 700
    – Moto DCT 2500e
    – SA Explorer 940
    – SA Explorer 1840
    – SA Explorer 3200
    – Pace “Chicago” DC501p
    – Pace “Indiana” DC511p

  7. The only good news from Digeo lately — they are paying for return shipping of beta HMRs. Probably the first time I am not wishing I’d kept a beta product after testing.

  8. Yeah, I doubt those old Motorola BMC9000 series boxes are still being made since they were never hot sellers and they don’t support CableCARD now anyway. Charter probably can’t get new Moxi boxes now if they wanted to.

  10. The BMC! That was the product that let Motorola stake a claim to having the first dual-tuner HD DVR on the market. I don’t think the Moto folks liked it for much other than that… :)

    You know who else is coming up on a CableCARD waiver-ending deadline this year? A large operator whose name starts with the letter V.

  11. Yeah, so until Digeo gets their new ‘Moxi HD DVR for Cable’ out the best MSOs could do is refurbished units.

    Even if Digeo gets them out I’m not convinced they’ll get much traction. They really need to get their OCAP port done – yesterday.

  12. That’s another thing. Their OCAP port WAS done yesterday… actually well over a year ago… but they wanted to sell the hardware too. I think their only remaining shot at success is to become a software company a focus completely on building the best OCAP guide they can.

  13. The Verizon situation is unique given their hybrid technology model… Not sure what’s going to happen there.

    As far as Digeo, my next question was actually going to be what hardware were they going to use for the MSO OCAP stuff. I kinda assumed they’d be doing their own hardware given the (aborted) retail play. But I figured they’d reuse some the technology to be efficient. Maybe that’s what the reset is all about? Seems pretty grim all around and I still wonder if the drastic cuts and changes are streamlining to look more attractive to a buyer.

  14. Verizon’s still on deadline for CableCARD, hybrid tech and all.

    I’m also wondering what Digeo’s attachment to the hardware is. Seems they’d need huge scale to make money there.

  15. I know there are efforts to define a cablecard equivalent standard for IPTV boxes, but could Verizon simply deploy the existing cablecard products, or is their backend/upstream stuff not standard cable?

  16. Or is their crypto not the usual stuff either… who would build a cablecard for Verizon? I know they’re selling MOT STBs, so I assume MOT could…

  17. There is very little difference between Verizon and a traditional cable MSO by the time the signal reaches the box. In our system we typically run fiber to the node and coax from that point forward. Verizon runs fiber to the side of the house and then coax from there. The QIP devices do differ somewhat but cablecard functionality and CA (conditional access) is the same.

  18. Cableric – When I talked to Digeo at CES they say their OCAP work had ‘just started’ and it was too early to discuss time frames. And when I later talked to them by phone they’d only say it was being worked on. Are you sure they had it done? Maybe they had to start over?

    Dave – Digeo is producing the ‘Moxi HD DVR for Cable’, which is supposed to be CableCARD-enabled, and perhaps OCAP, but it is a separate hardware platform from any of the consumer products. And from what they told me their OCAP work is meant to be like TiVo’s – to run on other vendor’s hardware as a way to license Moxi to MSOs easily.

  19. MegaZone – Yes, this was the 4.1 equivalent written with significant assistance from ADB/Vidiom. It was demoed for the first time at either the 2005 or 2006 National Show…I can’t remember. Obviously with their new platform they were going to be deploying a new (HD) guide, this is what they may be continuing to develop, possibly without outside assistance.

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