Charter to Provide Advanced Set-Top Box

Not to be outdone by satellite TV provider EchoStar Communications Inc., cable operator Charter Communications Inc. plans to deploy an advanced set-top box later this year that offers digital video recording, telephone service, wireless home networking and a high-speed Internet connection.

Many details about the box, which will be manufactured by Motorola Inc. with software from Digeo Inc., won’t be disclosed until later this year. Like EchoStar, which announced plans in January to deploy a multipurpose box from Moxi Digital Inc., Charter wants to put a high-powered device into customers’ homes to sell more entertainment and communications services.

Cable companies have resisted these boxes for several years, in part because the technology wasn’t ready and the demand from consumers was limited, said media analyst Paul Kagan. But Charter, which is owned by former Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s Vulcan Ventures, is jumping out ahead of the pack because it wants to be seen as the technology leader, Kagan said.

Allen also owns Digeo, which develops software for interactive TV services.

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Jon Healey