Big news this morning with Cisco buying Scientific-Atlanta, the maker of television set-top boxes, for $7 billion.   The deal will make it possible for Cisco to sell digital television equipment for HD and on demand programming as well as interactive services – furthering the triple play convergence of the Internet, telecommunications and entertainment.

Future home entertainment systems could be built around a set-top box that extends its communication with the TV to audio equipment and other devices, such as video servers that deliver on demand programming to consumers.