Broadband

New Products: Pasternack, Multicom, Fujitsu

March 6, 2013 6:21 pm | by CED staff | Articles | Comments

Pasternack Enterprises has a new line of 50-watt medium- power attenuators; Multicom has introduced a clear QAM SD/HD video distribution solution that eliminates the need for a set-top box; Fujitsu has announced the a Packet Optical Networking Platform (Packet ONP) for optical transport network (OTN) switching.

In perspective: Wait... what?

March 6, 2013 5:54 pm | by Brian Santo | Articles | Comments

Once upon a time, Time Warner was a giant media company with both a programming arm and a distribution arm. Investors demanded Time Warner Cable be spun off. After buying the rest of NBC Universal, Comcast now looks pretty similar to 2008 Time Warner.

Capital Currents: FCC broadcast spectrum incentive auctions

March 6, 2013 5:42 pm | by Jeffrey Krauss, President of Telecommunications and Technology Policy | Articles | Comments

The big picture on FCC incentive auctions of broadcast spectrum, includes two key elements: 1) The transfer of at least 120 MHz of spectrum for mobile broadband use; and 2) The generation of enough revenues to pay broadcaster relocation costs, the funding of a national broadband public safety network, as well as support for deficit reduction.

Engineering-Wise: The intelligent cable network

March 6, 2013 5:18 pm | by Daniel Howard Senior vice president of engineering and CTO of the SCTE | Articles | Comments

Besides the capacity and robustness improvement, there’s something else about DOCSIS 3.1 and its use of OFDM) that excites me: the network intelligence it enables. We already use DOCSIS devices as network health probes, but OFDM will essentially turn our equipment into multifunction test generators that can be used to measure most of the key RF performance parameters.

Ad platform startup gains $11M in vencap

March 6, 2013 3:08 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Innovid, a startup that specializes in equipment used to create and distribute interactive advertising, has just nailed down another $11 million in venture funding. The company develops tools to create, deliver and measure video campaigns, in any format, on any screen, publisher or ad network. The suite of products includes the Innovid's own Ad Server.

In the Media: Verizon hiking DSL fees

March 6, 2013 3:01 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Verizon will be upping the price of its basic tier of DSL service by $5 a month. The price hikes are not universal. The price has not changed in some cities where they company has franchise obligations to not increase its rates. The company says the new rate will remain in effect for one year.

Roku adds headphones to latest online video player

March 6, 2013 2:54 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

The Roku 3 box going on sale Wednesday also includes a more powerful search engine to find movies, TV shows and music more quickly and a new menu for perusing the more than 750 online services available through the device. The new model will be sold for $100, initially only at Roku's website and Amazon.com.

Schools shift from textbooks to tablets

March 6, 2013 2:46 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

Schools are increasingly looking to the hand-held tablets as a way to sustain students' interest, reward their achievements and, in some cases, actually keep per-student costs down. News Corp. just introduced its $299 Amplify tablet designed for the education market; some 2,000 schools use Google's $199 Chromebooks.

FreedomPop giving away home broadband

March 6, 2013 2:21 pm | by Ben Munsen, Wireless Week | News | Comments

After announcing its plans to enter home broadband service back in December, MVNO FreedomPop has today made its Burst wireless router available to the public. The device retails for $89 and gives users access to FreedomPop’s freemium service on Clearwire’s WiMax network.

Time Warner Cable accelerates IntelligentHome rollouts

March 6, 2013 12:19 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

Ahead of a nationwide rollout by year’s end, Time Warner Cable has launched its home automation service, which is called IntelligentHome, in all of its Carolinas markets as well as in Kansas City and Maine this week. Time Warner Cable finished up last year with IntelligentHome available in six of its markets.

Google Builds White-Space Spectrum Database

March 5, 2013 2:16 pm | by Ben Munsen, Wireless Week | News | Comments

Google has unveiled a searchable map of the available white-space spectrum in the U.S. The company said this new effort is in order to help promote dynamic spectrum sharing. The FCC is in the process of evaluating the map for accuracy.

Comcast expands access to Internet Essentials

March 5, 2013 2:10 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Comcast said it has connected more than 150,000 families thus far through its program to provide Internet access to low-income students and their families. Eligibility criteria for the program will soon be expanded to include parochial, private and homeschool students, bringing the estimated total number of eligible families to nearly 2.6 million.

Harmonic sets up cloud transcoding service

March 5, 2013 2:02 pm | by Brian Santo | Products | Comments

Harmonic has launched a cloud-based transcoding service for professional applications. The service is available through the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace. Content creators, service providers, and media professionals can access the technology to convert broadcast-quality video content to virtually any standard media format.

Study: Core router market continues slide in 4Q

March 5, 2013 12:13 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

For the sixth straight quarter, the service provider core router market continued its decline in the fourth quarter of last year as market revenue fell to its lowest level since the third quarter of 2009. Dell’Oro Group’s latest research said market revenue core routers dropped because network operators cut back investments on their backbone networks.

In the media: Comcast plans free VOD promo

March 4, 2013 1:55 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Comcast is looking to promote increased use of its VOD service later this month with a week’s worth of free VOD access. The MSO hopes to draw consumer attention to its broad VOD catalog late this month by offering shows from its broadcast, cable, and premium cable networks for free for a week.