Macrovision's Connected Platform on Cable Set-top Boxes

Macrovision announced today that it has reached a licensing agreement with an unnamed set-top box manufacturer that will use the Connected Platform solution to create more seamless links between the set-top and PCs.

It would be interesting to see how Connected Platform compares to what Verizon and Motorola put together for the Home Media DVR solution now available with FiOS TV services. If Connected Platform lowers the cost of implementing this type of solution and also offers the robust content protection for which Macrovision is well known, it seems feasible that we'll see the cable folks embrace this type of solution in greater numbers. For their sake, I hope so. Verizon's hitting a sweet spot among consumers by offering a multi-room DVR solution that can also provide access to PC-based content.