• RCN lures NFL fans at Comcast’s expenseBy Brian Santo Taking advantage of the carriage spat between Comcast and the National Football League (NFL), RCN will carry all NFL Network coverage this season. Comcast carries the NFL channel but moved the channel to its digital tier, setting off a squabble about how accessible the games are on Comcast. RCN has an […]
Wire and Cable Tips
Fujitsu beefs up lab to support LTE
Fujitsu Network Communications said it is expanding its laboratory facilities at its Richardson, Texas, headquarters to support next-generation wireless technologies, including Long Term Evolution (LTE), the upgrade to today’s cell phone technology. Fujitsu Network Communications said it is expanding its laboratory facilities at its Richardson, Texas, headquarters to support next-generation wireless technologies, including Long Term […]
Sezmi’s U.S. proof-of-concept secures Malaysia deal(2)
Malaysian Internet service provider YTL Communications plans to launch a converged TV and Internet service, which covers both residential and mobile use, using Sezmi’s TV platform. YTL plans to offer voice, data and TV by the end of next year. The video options will include live television, on-demand movies and shows, and Internet video. That […]
Stepping outside the Comfort Zone
In the end, it all comes down to serving the customer. Remember the old axiom: “Customers don’t care how they get their HBO—they just know they want it”? Facing up to that reality is causing a growing number of cable TV system operators to move beyond old business paradigms and embrace the very technologies that […]
Modernizing network power
Four or five years ago, when competitive pressures were leading many cable operators to consider offering telephony services over their networks, the process of upgrading cable networks to carry power for telephone services topped engineering discussions. Those conversations covered a range of issues, from the shift to 90 volts from 60 volts, to technician safety […]
Emerging Technologies
… part II Interactive services Another half-day session honed in on what it means, technically, to offer an integrated suite of services to customers, in what AT&T calls “the whole broadband approach.” Ralph Brown, chief architect of set-top systems for @Home Network, kicked off the session by noting that PC and TV application convergence will […]
Competitive Nightmares Taking Shape
Depending on which technology master you serve, telecommunications competition is either the dream you’ve always hoped for, or the nightmare that has you sitting bolt upright in the middle of the night. In the two years since telecommunications was overhauled via legislation, true competition has been largely nonexistent. But beneath the surface, companies are preparing […]
Interactivity draws viewers in (betting the farm on interactivity)
When it comes to interactivity, it seems that the old axiom of “if you wait long enough, everything comes back in style,” can now be applied. Just like the bell-bottom jeans that are flopping all over the place again, and the return of the Volkswagen Beetle, interactivity is making its comeback. In 1992, it was […]
Getting a handle on interoperability
Teamwork. What a concept. Supposedly, that’s what Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Little League, high school football, the cheer-leading squad, Army (Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard) boot camp, and even marriage are all about. Yet, practically speaking, the virtues of teamwork have never really been extolled, let alone practiced, in the cable industry to any […]
Modems, test gear, return path hot at Expo
What this year’s SCTE Cable-Tec Expo may have lacked in new whiz-bang announcements was more than made up by a buoyant, optimistic sense that the cable industry is preparing itself for entry into a long, competitive battle to provide consumers with a dazzling array of new services. Cable modem news again dominated this show, attended […]