Digital compression typically allows between eight and 12 channels to occupy the same capacity required by a single analogue channel.

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The move comes as Google itself is attempting to become a major seller and distributor of professional video and music content through a variety of services, from its YouTube video site to the Google Play online-media store to its pay-TV service in Kansas City, which required deals with cable-channel networks.

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Under the contracts, content providers featured on the "Channel Bar" of Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser were required to promote the Microsoft browser exclusively on their main Internet pages.

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The channel costs nearly as much as Netflix itself, with a cable subscription required on top of it.

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But it will do so on conventional, cheap silicon wafers without the need for the modified wafers or ultra-thin channels required by the SOI consortium, a trick it accomplishes by adding a second gate beneath the channel.

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