DENVER – On its 40th anniversary, SCTE announced that the networks they have built across North America are becoming obsolete…Well, they didn’t put it that way.
Those in charge did, however, admit that the future of television, data, and voice transmission will occur via IP technology, not RF. For cable MSOs, there are many steps to complete before this transition can take place. So, while this year’s SCTE Cable-Tec Expo delivered the latest and greatest technologies to the cable industry but it started with the acknowledgment that the RF world we live in, is in transition.
DOCSIS 3.0 has been at the top of everyone’s to-do list for the past couple of years, and by the end of this year, almost all larger cable companies in Canada and the United States will have some portion of their networks DOCSIS 3.0-enabled. The success of this upgrade is a testament to the quality of the HFC networks currently in place, and the dedication of those individuals who maintain them. While this upgrade may not see return from the residential market, it opens up new possibilities with the corporate world. Business Internet access and targeted advertising are just the first of many new services underway through the deployment of DOCSIS 3.0.
The next step in cable’s evolution is eliminating all analog signals traveling through it’s networks, reclaiming valuable bandwidth. Comcast’s Kevin Taylor and Steven Reynolds gave a seminar on how they reclaimed approximately 240MHz from their analog spectrum by providing their customers with a DTA, or digital terminal adapter.
The DTA is a small, one-way set-top that converts digital QAMs into analog for use on older TVs previously connected directly to cable. It does not provide any advanced features like video on demand or an electronic program guide. For households with three TVs or fewer, there is no added cost to the consumer. However, for those with multiple TVs, or TVs with QAM tuners, the disruption of service and added cost may cancel out the positive potential of added benefits. Why pay $2/month for an extra DTA when $5 gets you a set-top? I have a feeling that other MSOs may learn from Comcast’s hastiness to reclaim analog channels, and replace the DTA with a more affordable set-top.
Going all-digital is on the horizon for many cable MSOs. It will be the largest acquisition of digital bandwidth in the 21st century. Very soon, wideband speeds of 50 and 100 Mbps will be commonplace across the globe, creating potential for new competitors in an IP world. If television can be streamed in digital packets from anywhere, to any device, anytime; why do we need to pay a cable MSO for the stream? Couldn’t I pay ESPN a monthly fee to lock onto their stream? Or CNN?
The crucial leap cable MSOs need to make during this transition, is to modify their relationship with their customers. They must change it from a relationship with a household, to a relationship with a human being. Then cable companies can continue to offer bulk subscriptions to television channels at a discounted rate, because they’ll have the subscriber numbers to leverage it. This may be the true test for the brilliant engineers, technicians and customer service representatives working in the cable industry.
Dan Chelchowski is the winner of the 2009 Cartt.ca SCTE Ontario Chapter Cable-Tec Expo editorial internship and covered theDenver conference for Cartt.ca.
