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Daily news and top headlines for broadband communications engineering and design professionals
Open Mic: Cable’s best strategy for winning the multi-screen numbers game
May 8, 2013 12:23 am | by Buddy Snow, President, CEO, Morega Systems | Articles | CommentsService providers are transitioning to a multi-screen service model, offering subscribers access to media content at home and on the go across TVs, PCs, and mobile devices. These media mobility services remain annoyingly cumbersome today, but the industry recognizes the need to push forward and smooth out the wrinkles as quickly as possible.
Memory Lane: Predicting the Internet, cable-style
May 7, 2013 8:37 pm | by Stewart Schley, Media & technology writer | Articles | CommentsIf you’ve been around awhile, or are of “a certain age,” you may recall a few early attempts to couple cable’s distribution infrastructure with text and graphical information. You know: stuff you might label today as “content.” Starting in the early 1980s, a parade of initiatives flew across cable’s radar, launched by some big names (then) in media and publishing, plus a few homespun start-ups.
Engineering-Wise: Cable’s place atop the operations world
May 7, 2013 8:26 pm | by Marty Davidson, VP Engineering & Network Operations, SCTE | Articles | CommentsCable has made incredible progress in network and service reliability/availability. From vast improvements of the early days to the introduction of lifeline services like voice, we have reduced customer reported troubles from 40 percent to under 3 percent in an amazingly short time. Network troubles have followed a similar trajectory.
Capital Currents: That notorious copyright decision
May 7, 2013 8:10 pm | by Jeffrey Krauss, President of Telecommunications and Technology Policy | Articles | CommentsYou’ve certainly read about that notorious decision by the Librarian of Congress that made it illegal for a cell phone owner to “unlock” a cell phone so that it can be used with a different carrier. But that same decision, which came out last October, contains other elements, including some that apply more directly to our business.
YouTube reportedly set to carry pay channels
May 7, 2013 2:09 pm | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsYouTube is reportedly set to announce within a few weeks a series of channels that will require payment. The content on the new pay channels will be in addition to the millions of videos viewers watch for free on YouTube. It's not clear whether the paid videos will come with advertising.
Active Broadband heads to IMS over DOCSIS
May 7, 2013 2:03 pm | by Brian Santo | Products | CommentsActive Broadband Networks said its service management system now supports the IMS Rx interface as specified in PacketCable 2.0. The support for the interface paves the way for the delivery of IMS services over DOCSIS networks by providing support for PCMM policy control via the Diameter-based Rx interface.
Charter moves ahead with cloud-based UI
May 7, 2013 12:58 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | CommentsWith over a year at the helm of Charter Communications, Tom Rutledge’s vision for the nation’s fourth-largest cable operators is firming up across multiple fronts. Rutledge said on this morning’s first quarter earnings call that Charter’s all-digital conversion project and cloud-based user interface (UI) were two of the company’s biggest objectives this year.
Mediacom’s revenues increase in first quarter
May 6, 2013 12:49 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | CommentsThis morning privately held Mediacom Communications released unaudited financial results for the first quarter, which included revenue increases from the same period a year ago. The nation’s eighth-largest cable operator reported basic video subscriber losses, but continued the trend of adding data customers into the fold.
Former Insight, Mediacom execs clock in at BCI
May 6, 2013 12:45 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | CommentsBCI Broadband has hired Vin Zachariah as its senior vice president of residential services while Diane Quennoz has joined the executive team as senior vice president of marketing. Starting today, both Zachariah and Quennoz report to BCI Broadband CEO and President Jeffrey DeMond.
Report: Residential gateways key to multi-screen video delivery
May 6, 2013 12:40 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | CommentsAccording to a recent report, residential gateways are taking on added importance when it comes to the delivery of multi-screen video in subscribers’ homes. The report by Infonetics Research also said that the number of operators offering home automation services via residential gateways would grow to 44 percent by next year.
Comcast Business carries the load for PBS Coals
May 3, 2013 12:56 pm | News | CommentsComcast Business’ Ethernet services are doing the heavy lifting for PBS Coals, which is the fourth-largest coal producer in Pennsylvania. In order to serve PBS Coals, Comcast Business extended its fiber network to the company’s 10 mining and processing facilities located across Somerset County.
Avgiris promoted to CFO of Comcast Cable
May 2, 2013 12:16 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | CommentsFollowing a promotion last year, Comcast’s Cathy Avgiris continues to climb the corporate ladder with today’s news that she was promoted to chief financial officer for Comcast Cable Avgiris will start her new job July 1 and report to Comcast Cable president and CEO Neil Smit.
Liberty Media wraps up $2.6 billion investment in Charter
May 2, 2013 12:00 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | CommentsCharter Communications and Liberty Media said on Wednesday that they had wrapped up Liberty Media’s $2.6 billion investment in the nation’s fourth-largest cable operator. The investment was first announced in March and now that its completed John Malone’s Liberty Media has a 27.3 percent stake in Charter.
New Products - May 2013 CED
May 1, 2013 5:54 pm | by CED | Products | CommentsZanaware debuts new backup, recovery service. Envivio integrates with Adobe Primetime.OMG: Pixelmetrix expands OTT lineup.
Mediaroom VP joins SeaWell board
May 1, 2013 2:01 pm | by Brian Santo | News | CommentsPete Thompson, vice president of Microsoft Mediaroom, has joined the board of directors of SeaWell Networks. Before joining Microsoft, Thompson developed new products and services at T-Mobile, Graviton, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola and Levi Strauss & Co.
