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Daily news and top headlines for broadband communications engineering and design professionals
Reviving a Cheetah
February 22, 2010 8:11 am | by Brian Santo | CommentsThere’s only so much that cable companies can squeeze capex, so it’s only natural that they have been turning their attention to opex. That puts a premium on making sure operations are running efficiently. Meanwhile, intensifying competition means always having to say you’re sorry for the slightest of glitches (don’t even mention outages), which also puts a premium on operational efficiency.
Shaw gears up for Gigabit Internet, RFoG trials
February 18, 2010 8:27 am | by Mike Robuck | CommentsWhile Google’s announcement last week in regard to a planned 1 Gigabit fiber-to-the-home trial garnered a lot of ink, virtual or real, Canadian cable operator Shaw Communications has been planning its own Gigabit FTTH trial for some time.
Addendum: Suddenlink bows faster D3 speed
February 11, 2010 9:30 am | by Mike Robuck | CommentsSuddenlink Communications spokesman Pete Abel followed up with some additional information on the company’s expanded DOCSIS 3.0 rollouts including the news that a faster download speed of 36 Mbps was launched earlier this week in Lubbock, and Midland Texas.
NCTA shuffles top-MSO ranking to include satellite, telco providers
February 9, 2010 8:34 am | by Mike Robuck | CommentsRecently, I was reading a press release from Bright House Networks that referenced it being the nation’s seventh-largest MSO. Since I was so used to writing that BHN was the sixth-largest MSO, I asked a Bright House media rep about the lower ranking, and she said that Verizon had recently surpassed it to become the sixth-largest MSO.
Comcast’s class-action setback
January 12, 2010 9:20 am | by Brian Santo | CommentsComcast lost a procedural matter in court recently, the practical result being that a class-action lawsuit filed against the MSO will continue to be prosecuted.
Report: Broadband TV households to top 360 million by 2014
January 6, 2010 11:14 am | by Mike Robuck | CommentsMore than 360 million households worldwide will have the right equipment in place by 2014 to view over-the-top videos, with half of that number actively receiving OTT services, according to recent research by The Diffusion Group.
Home networking to get easier. And harder.
December 8, 2009 9:39 am | by Brian Santo | CommentsTwo new home networking standards – G.hn and WHDI – are on the way. Each has its respective champions, who expect to not just earn a place beside MoCA, Wi-Fi, HPNA, Ethernet, HDMI, HomePlug, UWB and other extant communications standards, but to eventually supplant most of them.
The NCTA’s FCC bid to kill CableCards
December 7, 2009 9:33 am | by Brian Santo | CommentsReady for another punishing debate about CableCards? The new version of the FCC is, according to the NCTA.
NBCU deal: Comcast in bed with Hulu
December 3, 2009 8:34 am | by Mike Robuck | CommentsAfter months of courting, Comcast has finally consummated its deal with General Electric to become the majority partner in NBC Universal, which means Comcast is now a part owner in NBCU offspring Hulu.
On deck: TWC brews On Channel On Demand
November 17, 2009 8:03 am | by Mike Robuck | CommentsAt last month’s CTAM Summit in Denver, Time Warner Cable executive Peter Stern mentioned that the nation’s second-largest cable operator was working on the next step for subscribers after Start Over and Look Back.
DOCSIS 3.0 vs. DOCSIS 3.0
November 3, 2009 8:26 am | by Mike Robuck | CommentsYesterday’s news that RCN, through its RCN Business Services division, was launching a DOCSIS 3.0 service for small- to medium-size businesses was noteworthy for several reasons, not the least of which was that it appears competing DOCSIS 3.0 services will be available in the same areas for the first time in North America.
TV Everywhere – literally this time
November 3, 2009 8:03 am | by Brian Santo | CommentsSling Media wants to point out that if you want all TV literally everywhere, well then TV Everywhere is profoundly misnamed. On the other hand, Sling can give cable the ability to get TV literally everywhere with its new Sling-enabled, tru2way-based cable HD DVR.
CALM yourself
October 12, 2009 11:36 am | by Brian Santo | CommentsDecades and decades ago, TV viewers began to treat commercial breaks not as extraordinary opportunities to increase their brand loyalty as was their duty, but as opportunities for unauthorized activities that took them out of earshot of their TVs, such as fetching bowls of crab meat & Jell-o salad.
Despite economy, RCN Metro Optical finding sweet spot
October 7, 2009 9:27 am | by Mike Robuck | CommentsWhile the economy is still a dark cloud, RCN Metro Optical Networks has found a ray of sunshine with its new network ring that will connect colocation facilities and financial exchanges in New York and New Jersey.
Clarifying Comcast’s 100 Mbps deployment in Seattle
September 30, 2009 10:22 am | by Mike Robuck | CommentsComcast is in the process of deploying its DOCSIS 3.0-enabled, 100 Mbps downstream tier for businesses in the Seattle area, but the nation’s largest cable operator isn’t saying when it will be launched.
