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Daily news and top headlines for broadband communications engineering and design professionals
Will digital roll-out speed ITV, HDTV deployment?
July 31, 1997 8:00 pm | by Fred Dawson | CommentsThe cable industry's move into digital TV has suddenly become much more complicated than the first phase of that process was expected to be, thanks in large measure to how long it has taken to get started. Through the four-plus years since Tele-Communications Inc. CEO John Malone spelled out plans for the 500-channel digital TV system, operators waited for the boxes to arrive at price points th...
A natural complement
July 31, 1997 8:00 pm | by Yvette C. Hubbel, Manager of Business Development, Telecommunications Systems Division; and John Sabat, Jr., Manager of Systems Engineering, Telecommunications Systems Division; Sanders, a Lockheed Martin Company | CommentsIntroduction The introduction of 1.9 GHz Personal Communications Services (PCS) has spurred an explosive growth in mobile telecommunications. Predictions are that new wireless voice and data services for business and residential users will complement, and someday possibly replace, today's wired and wireless service.
Round and round the testing goes...
July 31, 1997 8:00 pm | by Michael Lafferty | CommentsAs new services make their way into the cable pipeline, the demand is building to develop comprehensive, effective and efficient (in both time and money) testing and measurement equipment, procedures and protocols. While management keeps looking over their collective shoulders at the competition forming fast on the horizon, they're putting increasing pressure on their engineering professionals ...
Running to catch up
June 30, 1997 8:00 pm | by Roger Brown, Why Not Let the Marketplace Decide Who Has the Better Product? | CommentsA few months ago, when CED first wrote extensively about the home networking phenomenon and its relation to cable TV network operators, we found a dearth of interest in it. Yes, most cable operators were aware of some emerging standards and alliances, but few had much to say about it. Turns out that maybe we just asked too soon.
Copy protection issues
June 30, 1997 8:00 pm | by Jeffrey Krauss, Digital Copy Cat and President of Telecommunications and Technology Policy | CommentsNow that the cable industry and the TV set makers have pretty much worked out their differences on interconnecting set-tops and digital TV sets, the remaining controversies deal with copy protection. Copy protection is important because it must be built into digital set-top boxes and digital TVs, or else the movie studios won't allow their products to be distributed over cable.
Cable may not have the data field to itself
June 30, 1997 8:00 pm | by Fred Dawson | CommentsiCS operates six stocking warehouses in the United States. In addition, its VueScan division maintains stocking facilities in Argentina, Chile and Brazil. Itochu Cable Services has also signed an agreement with Lucent Technologies to distribute its complete line of fiber optic cable products in North America.
Modems, test gear, return path hot at Expo
June 30, 1997 8:00 pm | by CED Staff | CommentsWhat this year's SCTE Cable-Tec Expo may have lacked in new whiz-bang announcements was more than made up by a buoyant, optimistic sense that the cable industry is preparing itself for entry into a long, competitive battle to provide consumers with a dazzling array of new services. Cable modem news again dominated this show, attended by 8,200 cable operators and exhibitors who flocked to Orland...
Interactive TV
June 30, 1997 8:00 pm | by Michael Lafferty and David Iler, Associate Editors | CommentsLike a persistent zombie from a 1970s horror flick, interactive TV just refuses to die, preferring instead to return time after time from near-death experiences to herald a new age of TV programming. This time around, however, the energized specter of interactive TV is stronger than ever. Plenty of high-profile companies are collectively betting billions of dollars that interactive TV will take...
The DTV process has begun — where are cable operators?
May 31, 1997 8:00 pm | by Andy Paff, President and CEO, Integration Technologies | CommentsThe FCC has announced the conclusion of its fifth report and order regarding digital television (DTV). This exercise is intended to be the catalyst for broadcasters to enter the competitive digital world while maintaining "free" programming to the public. The Commission has effectively pushed many of the complicated technical and marketing issues back to the broadcasters.
The DTV process has begun — where are cable operators?(2)
May 31, 1997 8:00 pm | by Andy Paff, President and CEO, Integration Technologies | CommentsThe FCC has announced the conclusion of its fifth report and order regarding digital television (DTV). This exercise is intended to be the catalyst for broadcasters to enter the competitive digital world while maintaining "free" programming to the public. The Commission has effectively pushed many of the complicated technical and marketing issues back to the broadcasters.
The devil is hiding in the details
May 31, 1997 8:00 pm | by Roger Brown | CommentsSome will argue that deploying new services isn't as easy as writing a check, however. A newspaper story out of Boston last month could give some ammunition to that point-of-view, and show why it's been a struggle for many to get high-speed data service up and running. For a lengthy list of potential problems, especially in the software domain, lie waiting to trip up even the most savvy operator.
Keeping pace with the big guys
May 31, 1997 8:00 pm | by Michael Lafferty | CommentsLong ago (two, maybe three years ago) when the idea of high-speed cable modems really caught on in the cable industry, the idea that they could be the linchpin for an economically-viable datacom service in a 100-subscriber system (at least in this lifetime) was considered all but absurd. My, my, what a difference just a couple of years makes.
Necessity drives small ops to new technologies
May 31, 1997 8:00 pm | by Craig Kuhl | CommentsIf necessity is indeed the mother of invention, then smaller cable operators are fast becoming Mom's favorite sons. Out of necessity, and in some cases just plain fear, smaller cable operators are becoming more innovative, and inventive, in their use of advancing technologies to further their businesses and to reach those elusive customers and the resultant revenues that in the past were out of...
National data net could be key to new services
May 31, 1997 8:00 pm | by Fred Dawson | CommentsAdvances in all facets of data-based communications are combining to create a huge advantage over traditional carriers for anyone in a position to build a nationwide network infrastructure, including the cable industry. This is the dawning realization that has brought cable MSOs together on a plan to cooperate in creating such an infrastructure and is the development that is central to GTE's re...
Whole-house service gets a face-lift
May 31, 1997 8:00 pm | by Roger Brown | CommentsAs cable operators begin to grapple with competition from myriad sources, one thing has become abundantly clear: they have to effectively market their service. When cable was the only game in town, marketing took a back seat to network operation and maintenance; with deregulation came competition — and to stay one step ahead, cable systems have to tout their advantages and educate consumers.
