CES Briefs

Comcast announced deals with Samsung and Panasonic to provide digital set-tops that meet the OpenCable Application Platform (OCAP) standard.

The boxes allow for interactive communications and downloadable security on a common platform and include MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 compression technology and UBS 2.0 networking capability. Comcast will receive 200,000 Samsung standard-definition digital boxes in 2007, with options to purchase another 500,000 units.

On the high end, Comcast will buy 250,000 high-definition, DVR-equipped boxes from Panasonic, with an option to purchase up to 1 million units the first year. The Panasonic HD/DVR boxes will have 250 gigabytes of hard-drive storage, double the capacity of Comcast's current Motorola set-tops.

Comcast is also buying Panasonic's OCAP middleware, which can link the set-tops to Panasonic HDTV sets and DVD players and allow users to control all the devices from a single Comcast remote.

U.S. Digital Television (USDTV) announced that Norfolk, Va., will be the fifth market and first East Coast location to receive the USDTV service, which offers 30 all-digital channels for a monthly subscription fee of $19.95.

USDTV, which uses a proprietary digital set-top box to capture its over-the-air transmissions, will begin broadcasting this spring in the Norfolk/Hampton Roads market from the facilities of LIN TV.

LIN was one of several major broadcasters to invest a total of $25.75 million in USDTV last November,. Also investing: Fox Television Stations, Hearst-Argyle, McGraw-Hill, Morgan Murphy Stations and Telcom DTV.