Time Warner Cable Will Buy More Samsung Tru2way Boxes

Time Warner Cable announced Monday it has signed a letter of commitment for the continued development, purchase and deployment of Samsung Electronics' tru2way-enabled set-top boxes, including the cable operator's first second-source digital video recorder.

To date, Time Warner Cable has deployed more than 2 million tru2way-based set-top boxes, of which approximately 400,000 are Samsung boxes. Under the renewed agreement, TWC will deploy Samsung set-tops including the SMT-H3090 and SMT-H3270 high-definition DVRs.

"We have been a leader in the rollout of tru2way devices, and we are continuing to grow our relationship with Samsung, a CE company dedicated to the development of new equipment meeting the necessary standards and offering attractive feature sets," TWC executive vice president of advanced engineering Mike Hayashi said in a statement.

TWC, along with four of the five other biggest U.S. operators, had pledged in agreements with Samsung, Sony Electronics, Panasonic and other consumer-electronics companies to enable tru2way retail devices across their footprints by July 1 - a target the MSOs missed.

The cable operators also agreed to a provision that, starting this month, 20% of the leased set-top boxes they buy will be based on tru2way until 10 million such boxes are deployed.

Separately, Time Warner Cable and Samsung said they also recently signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on the development of better home-networking solutions for entertainment.