11:15 AM -- BendBroadband of Central Oregon is the latest mid-sized MSO to adopt Docsis 3.0, starting off with a high-end "Platinum" tier that offers a shared 60 Mbit/s downstream and sells for $89.95 per month when bundled with the company's TV or phone service.

BendBroadband is also promoting a second new premium tier, "Gold" (what else?), that offers a 25 Mbit/s downstream for $49.95 per month.

Keeping up a historic practice, BendBroadband is applying a monthly usage cap on the new wideband products, allowing up to 150 gigabytes per month for those who take Platinum. Any consumption above that ceiling is subject to a charge of $1.50 per gigabyte. BendBroadband's other tiers cap usage at 100 GB per month before overage charges come into play.

BendBroadband, which counts Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE: Q) as a competitor, is introducing wideband roughly a half year after the company went all-digital, a move that freed up channels for Docsis 3.0 and provided enough spectrum to offer more than 90 high-definition television channels.

Although the operator is starting off with 60 Mbit/s down, putting it on par with a tier that Charter Communications Inc. has introduced in St. Louis, the channel bonding features of Docsis 3.0 enables MSOs to deliver speeds greater than 100 Mbit/s. Among U.S. cable operators, Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC) and Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) have already introduced such tiers. (See Charter Takes On U-verse , Comcast Gets Bizzy With 100-Meg Tier , and Cablevision Debuts 101-Mbit/s Wideband Service.)

Massillon Cable TV Inc. of Ohio and Suddenlink Communications are among other mid-sized MSOs that have recently deployed Docsis 3.0 services. (See Moto CMTS Powers Massillon's Docsis 3.0 Rollout and Suddenlink Widens Wideband Rollout.)

— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Cable Digital News

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