The New York Times > Technology > SBC in Deal With Microsoft to Provide TV on High-Speed Lines

The New York Times > Technology > SBC in Deal With Microsoft to Provide TV on High-Speed Lines: "SBC Communications, as part of its effort to compete head-on with the cable industry for television subscribers, plans to announce today that it will pay $400 million to Microsoft for software used to deliver TV programming over high-speed data lines.
It would be a crucial move into unproven territory for SBC, which like the other regional telephone giants wants to grow by expanding beyond phone and Internet services and into entertainment. To do that, SBC expects to spend more than $4 billion over the next three years on its fiber optic network to offer faster Internet connections able to carry digital video programming.
The deal is also a milestone for Microsoft. The company has spent roughly $20 billion in the last decade trying to break into the television business, but has little to show for that investment, industry analysts said. The 10-year agreement with SBC is Microsoft's first commercial contract to help deliver programming to millions of homes."