SAN FRANCISCO -- Imagine never again having to buy a compact disc or being forced to endure a commercial playing over your favorite song on the radio.
That was the world being portrayed Tuesday by Jerry Rubinstein, chairman and CEO of International Cablecasting Technologies Inc., the parent of the Digital Music Express, a cable-delivered music service consisting of a library of hundreds of CDs.
'It's the jukebox of the future,' Rubinstein said. 'We now have the technology in place to deliver 60 channels of music choices to cable viewers around country.'
The system is broadcast on a KU sideband and is delivered by the cable operator to a small unit attached to the listener's stereo. To listen to a particular album, a listener only needs to punch in the appropriate number on a handheld selector.
The company launched the service in 1991, but announced it had expanded its channel capacity from 30 to 60 at the National Cable Television Association meeting in San Francisco.
The expansion, Rubinstein said, was important to the company's growth among cable users. DMX already has signed up hundreds of business users in both the United States and in Europe eroding away at the customer base of services like Muzak.
DMX has divided its channels into 10 music categories and a channel dedicated to simulcasting other cable offerings like MTV and The Disney Channel.
Financial backers of International Cable Technologies Inc. include such cable heavyweights as TCI, Viacom, Scientific-Atlanta and Colony Communications.