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Please contact:
Jeff Claudino
Director of Sales, Insider Research Services
619-229-9940
or via email at:
claudino@lightreading.com |
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| Boon Dongle: DTAs Will Give MSOs a Big Bandwidth Boost |
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While every service provider is embracing HDTV and other digital services, they all face the pesky fact that there are more than 200 million analog TV sets sitting in U.S. consumers' homes. Embracing fiber, radio frequency over glass (RFOG), Gigabit passive optical network (GPON), IPTV, or any other digital distribution infrastructure will not change the analog device sitting at the end of the line. The digital transition is set for June 12, 2009, and the federal converter coupon program only addresses broadcast TV signals. The cable industry needs its own digital transition.
As cable providers rushed to embrace the digital age, they got tripped up by their analog bandwidth. The typical hybrid-coax U.S. cable system with 750 MHz of bandwidth still operates with about two thirds of its capacity in analog and one third in digital. As cable operators have sought to add more HDTV and advanced digital services to remain competitive with satellite and telcos, they have recognized the critical need to increase their digital capacity.
One of the challenges with DTAs is to convince consumers about their value so that they will hook them up. Consumers already have been bombarded with information about the digital transition, so cable operators have the opportunity to capitalize on the digital transition by promoting a better solution than the federally authorized converters, a solution that preserves both broadcast and cable channels on their existing analog TVs. The transition delay until June 12, 2009, gives operators more time to get that message across.
One of the most vexing issues in the cable industry today deals with security. Of course, signal security and copy protection are vitally important to the entire cable industry. But DTAs do not include CableCARDs and, except for one model with integrated conditional access, they do not include security protection.
The new FCC leadership should recognize that DTAs support the digital transition and provide an effective way for consumers to retain their existing analog TVs. Private enterprise, through the cable industry, is shouldering the load, not the federal government. In these tight economic times, DTAs represent a simple, low-cost solution for consumers who cannot afford to purchase HDTVs. In addition, the small, low-power DTAs, are environmentally friendly and conform to government appeals for industries to "go green."
This report analyzes the prospects for using DTAs to go all-digital, including the pros and cons, costs, and issues such as security and customer self-installation. It reports on the DTA experiences of large and small cable operators so far, and profiles seven suppliers of DTA hardware or software solutions.
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| Sample research data from the report is shown in the excerpts below: |
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 Table of Contents (cii0409_toc.pdf) |
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| A long list of factors will influence a cable system's decision to go with DTAs or other digital bandwidth options. Some, such as ad sales and business services, might not be immediately apparent, but those operations will be affected by any digital bandwidth plans. |
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| DTAs get attention, especially in this economic climate, for their low price tags, running as low as one tenth of a digital set-top. But many other costs of analog reclamation must be taken into account, including more QAM modulators and other digital and HD video delivery, or wideband Internet equipment if an operator goes that route. Other operational costs, programming license fees, and customer care and education expenses also need to be added. |
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| To meet the need for increased HDTV and future services like wideband, one cable system began exploring digital bandwidth options and focused on four of them: a spectrum overlay, SDV, a 1GHz upgrade, and analog reclamation (or "elimination," as the MSO puts it). The cable system conducted a financial analysis to assess the required capex and opex, potential disruptions to customers, time to completion, bandwidth acquired, assurance of success, and the potential unknowns. |
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| [click on the image above for the full excerpt] |
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 Companies profiled in this report include: Broadcom Corp. (Nasdaq: BRCM); Cloakware Inc., a subsidiary of Irdeto Access; Conax Corp.; Evolution Digital, a subsidiary of Evolution Broadband LLC; Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT); Pace plc; and Thomson (NYSE: TMS). |
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| Total pages: 20 |
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| To view reports you will need Adobe's Acrobat Reader. If you do not have it, it can be obtained for free at the Adobe web site. |
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