Anaheim, Calif. ? Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch wasn’t scheduled to appear at an annual cable industry gathering this week, but his presence loomed large as cable companies prepare to battle his DirecTV satellite television service.

Murdoch’s bid to acquire Hughes Electronics, the parent of DirecTV, is expected to be approved by year’s end. Cable executives say they’ll be ready.

“He’s an excellent programmer. We don’t want to underestimate him,” said Tom Rutledge, president of Cable and Communications at Cablevision Systems Corp. Rutledge was speaking at the cable industry’s annual Western show.

Cable operators said their ability to offer high-definition television and telephone services — and the ability to bundle the services in one bill — would give them the edge over satellite TV’s national footprint and DirecTV’s current contract to offer National Football League games.

One key initiative is to develop an open platform for operating software so that a consumer will be able to buy a cable box with a digital recorder, interactive applications and other features and have it work with every cable system across the country.

The “Open Cable Applications Platform,” a system developed by Vidiom Systems Corp., was on display Wednesday.

When fully deployed by the major cable companies, the system will allow digital TV makers to build cable services into their sets. Cable service will then be activated locally by inserting a chip from the local cable company.

The OCAP system will start its national rollout next year and is expected to be widely available in 2005.

Adelphia chairman Bill Schleyer, left, listens to Comcast president Brian Roberts talk about issues affecting his company. At right is moderator Larry King. They were part of a discussion Wednesday at the Western show, a meeting of those involved in the cable TV business, in Anaheim, Calif.