Cable's Digital Simulcast Entering the Next Phase

[mhz40]

Jeff Baumgartner, CED

The idea behind cable's migration to an all-digital platform took center stage in late 2003...and hasn't come off it since. The topic remains a hot one, and expects to grow even hotter in 2005 as operators move ahead aggressively with digital simulcast deployments.

A panel of experts from both cable operators and equipment vendors gathered earlier this month to discuss the next steps of the transition and the barriers that still need to be overcome. During the panel, moderated by CED, it became crystal clear that most major MSOs are making big plans for the transition with digital simulcast, a technique that replicates most (if not all) of an operator's analog channels in the digital domain.

Charter Communications, the first U.S. MSO to deploy simulcast, expects to move quickly in other markets, noted Pragash Pillai, the operator's vice president of advanced engineering and development. Charter, he added, expects to build a central encoding station that feeds the other simulcast sites.

Charter, which is operating a simulcast system in Long Beach, Calif., has yet to disclose where it will next make the transition. A report on Wednesday indicated that Madison, Wis. could be Charter's next target for simulcast, but the MSO had yet to confirm that as of Friday morning.

Adelphia also plans to be aggressive with simulcast in 2005, with expectations to have an all-digital product in every "major" market," said Basil Badaweyeh, the MSO's manager of advanced video engineering and development. He added that Adelphia, like Charter, plans to centralize its simulcast operations as much as possible.

Cox Communications, meanwhile, will get its digital simulcast plans rolling in 2005. "I don't think we'll get finished, but we are certainly starting this year," said John Hildebrand, Cox's vice president of multimedia technologies for Cox.

Vendors, of course, hope to take a leading role with operators as they embark on their digital simulcast activities. Motorola, for example, already has an all-digital box, the DCT-700. Although that model is much less expensive than boxes that handle both digital and analog signaling, "we are miles away from the $50 set-top," said Kevin Wirick, vice president of marketing for Motorola's digital media system division, noting that more progress needs to be made in getting more functionality condensed on the box semiconductors.

While the $50 bare-bones, all-digital box is just one product that will help operators with their simulcast plans, more advanced boxes will play a key role, as well.

"As we look [at] cost reductions of digital-only set-tops, DVR is where we are going to have the biggest cost savings," Hildebrand said, explaining that today's cable DVRs have two expensive analog decoders and other associated circuitry.

"It has to be a two-way strategy," Pillai agreed. "There is a low-end box and a high-end box." He added that Charter's plan is to offer low-cost digital set-tops and incent customers with them by playing up the value they can provide with advanced services like video-on-demand.

But he also acknowledged that getting analog customers to add a box will be a challenge. "To give them a box...it's like a piece of furniture to them," Pillai said.

On the network side, companies like Motorola and RGB Networks are presently looking into specific challenges, including the scaling of control systems and conditional access systems.

RGB, a relative newcomer in the vendor arena, hopes its technology will simplify operations as MSOs make the all-digital transition. RGB hopes to do that with a product that enables operators to execute all-digital operations all the way to the edge of the network, explained Adam Tom, RGB's president & CEO.

[gparris]

OR shall I ask, TWC: Milwaukee: When?
Looking at the TWC Austin, TX lineup, it looks like for awhile they have had both digital and analogue channels...including digitally-delivered Sci-Fi Channel, which makes me sort of aggravated at TWC Milwaukee.
So when?
NBC, CBS and FOX are now digitally-delivered in the analogue range, so why not ABC and the rest.. they look darn good, too...like Directv or Dish's local delivery if not better...so why the wait, TWC Milwaukee?