Cable TV Staying Essential!

Transcription

1 Cable TV Staying Essential! Alan Amos Sr. Account Manager Harmonic, Inc. SCTE New England VP Outreach ne.org/

2 Things that you may have wondered about but did not know who to ask: How did Cable TV systems evolve? How has cable TV s delivery system helped to keep cable essential? What is HFC, FTTH, PON, RFOG, QAM, CCAP? If fiber is good does that mean fiber all the way to the home is best? Ask Questions! After this talk

3 Cable TV is one of the few technologies that started in small towns and went to the cities. It took Cable till 1981 to get larger than the dog food industry in terms of revenue. Rhode Island did not have any Cable TV until 1974 A few Cable Facts

4 The Birth of Cable Cable originally brought TV to remote areas where offair reception was poor or non existent. Antennas were located on hilltops and cable was run into the valleysindustry referred to as Community Antenna TV 4

5 Many Small independent operators

6 The Early Years, cont. Before HBO very little original programming 1972 HBO launches using Microwave towers to a few cable systems 1975 HBO starts nationwide delivery of programming via satellite Other services followed and cable now had its own programming making it attractive in cities Late 70s Cable industry starts to consolidate and franchise wars for metropolitan areas begins

7 The 80s 1983, HBO's first original movie and the first made for pay TV movie The Terry Fox Story premiered 36 channels more than we will ever need! Wireless remote controls for set tops introduced

8 The 90s Industry consolidation and rapid growth Limited experiments in interactive TV/Pay per view 1996, As home and small business internet usage booms, Cable launches High Speed Online service 8

9 2000s Brought Mobile Services New ways to access data and video

10 Cable is always warned of it's near death (VCRs, DBS, Netflix). It hasn t happened.

11 Are customers cutting the cord? According to the latest industry data more than 90 percent of TV households in the United States subscribe to some form of paid TV service. Comcast Cable 21,995,000 DirecTV Satellite 20,080,000 DISH Satellite 14,056,000 Time Warner Cable 12,030,000 Verizon IPTV 4,700,000 AT&T IPTV 4,500,000 Charter Cable 3,989,000 Cablevision Cable 3,197,000 Total 84,547,000 11

12 Staying Essential Cable offers something a la carte services cannot Article by Samit Sarkar, Polygon, Sep 05, 2013) Microsoft: Cable TV cannot be duplicated by a la carte apps Microsoft's portfolio of non game apps on Xbox 360 includes services that make it easier for users to "cut the cord": cancel a monthly subscription to cable, and replace it with platforms like Netflix, Amazon Instant Video and Hulu Plus. But in a phone interview, executives for Microsoft and Time Warner Cable told Polygon they disagree with the idea that those individual apps support cord cutting. As they see it, cable subscriptions offer something that a la carte services can't replace. "I think it actually does the opposite," said Westlake, speaking of the Xbox 360's app portfolio and whether it facilitates cord cutting. "It says to somebody, 'This is really a lot of value for the money' many times more than just trying to patchwork it together by going a la carte if they didn't have a subscription to [a cable provider]." 12

13 Digital TV, HDTV, IPTV, Multiscreen, WiFI, Cloud Computing, Mobile Services, And in spite of the storm of new technology introductions, or perhaps because of it, Cable remains essential.

14 Staying Essential, not by just adapting but by leading! Cable led the way for High Speed Data service to homes and small businesses Beating the telephone industry at their own game (Comcast is 3rd largest home telephone company in the US per Wikipedia started selling home digital voice service in 2007) Competing for security services All while continuing to do what this industry has always done best deliver high quality video!

15 Cable s Success due to many factors Cable wisely invested in programing, a big advantage over newcomers Cable provides a unified experience Tech support Single bill On screen caller ID Cable has a reliable and cost effective delivery system for it s service offerings that plays a big part in keeping cable essential. 15

16 Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC) architecture a reliable and cost effective broadband pipeline to (and from) our customers! 16

17 does it work and how did it evolve?

18 Coax Cable Invented 1935 Cable TV signals share the same frequencies used by off air services Metallic shield is needed to keep cable signals in and off air signals out to avoid interference 18

19 Coaxial Cable Early Cable TV systems built with surplus cable following WW2 Different kinds of Coax for Trunk and drop Importance of maintaining good connectors Signals are attenuated (lose strength) as they travel through coaxial cable 19

20 Amplifiers are needed Because coax attenuates TV signals amplifiers are needed to boost levels Every amplifier degrades picture quality slightly and there could be as many as 30 between viewer and signal source! Amplifiers require seasonal adjustments 20

21 Traditional Cable Before 1990 Amplifiers are located outdoors and require climbing poles or bucket truck for access Subject to power failures anywhere along the path Big differences in customer experience those near the signal processing center (headend) had much better reliability and picture quality than those far away Limited reach from a headend 21

22 C1990 Coax systems need help! Widely varied customer experience depending on location Long cascades of amplifiers also limited how much bandwidth could be provide Hard to trouble shoot Return systems were either non existent or very unreliable necessary for data service 22

23 Fiber to the rescue! While Fiber Optics had been around for decades it did not become practical for Cable TV until reasonably priced transmitters designed for video delivery were developed. Many fibers in a bundle, each capable of bandwidth exceeding coaxial cable Low attenuation provides a long reach without amplifiers 23

24 Evolution of HFC network Originally two main uses for fiber: Break up the long cascades of amplifiers Link headends together to eliminate duplication of signal processing equipment As optics costs dropped more fiber was added to the network which solved the reliability issue but a new problem was erupting 24

25 A bandwidth crisis More Channels being added More Pay Per View offerings More Data customers All services went everywhere on the system Problem of shared bandwidth, too many customers sharing a single link to and from the headend Services would slow down or become temporarily unavailable Heavy Data users perceived as Bandwidth Hogs 25

26 Segmentation=Bandwidth Reuse (Narrowcast vs. Broadcast) Segmentation reuse bandwidth by breaking up plant into many smaller systems First step toward segmentation simply separate fibers in the Headend and feed each with it s own laser Good fortune Bundles of fibers already run to each fiber node First HSD, then VOD and in some cases SDV used to narrowcast less used channels

27 Sample HFC System Design 27

28 Fiber To The Home (FTTH) Fiber to the Home (FTTH) Used primarily by traditional telcos for voice video & data delivery replacing old copper plant FTTH more expensive to build than HFC Craft issues much easier to install an F connector on coax than to install fiber connections Typically requires a fairly large box on the side of the home and lengthy installation times 28

29 But FTTH does have its benefits No outdoor RF amplifiers to maintain Generally very reliable More tamper resistant No RF leakage issues Virtually unlimited bandwidth to every home 29

30 HFC, FTTH Which Is better for cable?

31 An Analogy An expensive sports car may be able to do 200MPH but you can only drive 65. Are our customers willing to pay for bandwidth they won t use? HFC gives them all the bandwidth they need without incurring the cost of FTTH. $$$$$$$$?????????? 31

32 But will HFC be able to deliver new services? Cable HFC HFC architecture continues to evolve and remains the most cost effective way to deliver services to customers. Keeping costs down is one way that cable operators remain competitive and essential.

33 HFC=Pay as you grow Because each home needs its own fiber, FTTH systems require running lots of fiber for anticipated growth. If too much fiber is installed the cost is wasted, if too little it is very expensive to add it later HFC provides a much more flexible pay as you grow model since cable plant can be segmented as needed. Cost effective=competitive advantage

34 HFC helps to keep cable cost competitive but with capacity for growth WHAT Does it mean for the Cable Industry?

35 HFC so Into you, I just can t thing of nothin else Cost effective and flexible outside plant keeps the Cable industry competitive While it can be argued that fiber to the home is more reliable repairs, when needed, are much more difficult resulting in delays While technically FTTH offers more bandwidth to each home, HFC offers all that is needed self installs are possible with coax saving money and allowing many new customers faster access to services 35

36 And to close a few cable terms QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) An efficient means of modulating digital signals onto analog RF carriers (yes RF carriers are still Analog!) A QAM Carrier occupies the same bandwidth as an analog TV channel but can carry from 10 to 15 SD digital channels or 2 to 4 HD digital channels An edge device takes digital (IP) signals in and modulates them onto an RF carrier

37 What is CCAP? Converged Cable Access Platform As the cable plant is segmented more edge devices are Today VOD, Data and Broadcast all use separate Edge QAMs CCAP combines all 3 saves space, power and cost per QAM helping cable Stay Essential! 37

38 Just a last few items Passive Optical Network FTTH but uses optical splitters so that one fiber can feed multiple homes and businesses shared bandwidth on fiber IP all the way to the home RF Over Glass also a passive fiber network but carrying QAM signals HFC with very little C expensive for the same reasons as FTTH. 38

39 What is next? See how cable equipment has evolved at the antiques table See what lives inside a scaleable fiber optic node Try your hand at installing an F connector and see how this very important part of our network has evolved Close up and personal: Coax, fiber, amplifiers and more Ask questions and most of all have fun!

40 From the SCTE NE chapter Thank you! 40