Business

Tue May 27 23:33:59 PDT 2008

NEW YORK, May 27 (Reuters) – Sony Corp <6758.T> has signed an agreement with the top U.S. cable companies that leads the way for televisions that can receive digital signals without need for a television set-top box, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association said on Tuesday.

U.S. cable television customers currently use separate devices known as set-top boxes, which are made by companies such as Motorola Inc <MOT.N> and Cisco Systems Inc <CSCO.O>, which owns Scientific Atlanta.

Other consumer electronics companies besides Sony also have been invited to formally join the memorandum of understanding Sony negotiated with Comcast <CMCSA.O>, Time Warner Cable Inc <TWC.N>, Cox Communications, Charter Communications Inc <CHTR.O>, Cablevision Systems Corp <CVC.N> and Bright House Networks, the cable organization said.

The agreement establishes the fundamentals for a retail market for the digital cable-ready televisions and addresses how they will be sold with services like video-on-demand, digital video recording and interactive programming guides, according to the cable group which did not publish the entire agreement.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; editing by Carol Bishopric)

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