Why should telecom players have all the fun? The cable industry continued with its own wave of consolidation late last month as Motorola plunged into the video-on-demand (VOD) market through its announced acquisition of startup Broadbus Technologies on July 25. There could be more to come.

Cisco Systems turbocharged the cable rollup race by gobbling up Scientific-Atlanta in February. Now Lucent/Alcatel is eyeing a major push into cable following its IPTV and FTTP success with U.S. telcos. Nokia/Siemens could also make a move in an effort to unseat incumbent Nortel, given Siemens’ presence in the PacketCable softswitch market.

Classic cable pure-plays like Arris and C-COR are logical takeover targets. Or they may opt to buy other, smaller firms to beef up against their larger brethren. Other players include cable incumbents Harmonic, Terayon, and Vyyo; VOD suppliers SeaChange International and Concurrent Computer; and billing and OSS players CSG Systems and Convergys.

Who’s next to buy and what will they be buying? Get the sweet and lowdown at Cable Digital News.

— Michael Harris, Chief Analyst, Cable Digital News