Picking Up the Pace (DTA)Picking Up the Pace (DTA)

Box vendor all but confirms it has scored a DTA deal with Comcast

Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor

June 2, 2008

2 Min Read
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As "Cable," a Light Reading message board visitor pointed out over the weekend, Pace Micro Technology , lo and behold, has scored a big deal to supply digital-to-analog converter boxes.

In a terse press release dated May 29, Pace announced it had "signed a new contract for the U.S. cable market… for a low cost digital to analogue converter product that will enable the transition to all-digital networks and will be delivered over the next three years."

Translated, that's corporate code-speak for: "We scored a deal to supply Digital Terminal Adapters (DTAs) to Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK)." Comcast, in case you've forgotten, plans to use millions of the simple adapters to help it reclaim valuable chunks of analog spectrum for expanded video-on-demand and high-definition television services, as well as channels for Docsis 3.0. (See Comcast Confirms Digital Dongle Project and Comcast Pursuing $35 Digital Dongle.)

Pace's deal affirmation late last week comes after the vendor was playing it coy at The Cable Show in New Orleans. While other set-top vendors, including Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO), Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT), and Thomson S.A. (NYSE: TMS; Euronext Paris: 18453), proudly showed off their DTAs on the floor (Thomson even had a live demo), we were told that Pace had one, too, but was sharing the goods with operators behind closed doors. (See DTAs on Parade .)

So, why announce something now? As a publicly held company, it had to, after the board determined "that the outturn for the year will materially exceed existing expectations."

Guess the only thing they didn't get was an OK from Comcast to disclose the MSO as the customer in question, though there's not much question about it.

— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Cable Digital News

About the Author

Jeff Baumgartner

Senior Editor, Light Reading

Jeff Baumgartner is a Senior Editor for Light Reading and is responsible for the day-to-day news coverage and analysis of the cable and video sectors. Follow him on X and LinkedIn.

Baumgartner also served as Site Editor for Light Reading Cable from 2007-2013. In between his two stints at Light Reading, he led tech coverage for Multichannel News and was a regular contributor to Broadcasting + Cable. Baumgartner was named to the 2018 class of the Cable TV Pioneers.

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