How much more? Fifty HD channels by year-end

As more programmers make more content available in high definition, MSOs are revising their bandwidth budgets to make more shelf space - to the tune of 100 channels by 2009-2010, in some cases. Pat Esser, CEO of Cox, said during the morning session yesterday that he's already asked his engineers to ready their networks for 50 HD channels by year-end, and 100 the year after that.®

"I've asked Chris (Bowick, Cox's CTO) to get our networks ready for that," Esser said.

"His guys are probably back in their rooms right now, figuring out how to get there. Or they're in the bathroom, getting sick."

Reference points: In 2003, about nine channels of HD programming were available. Today, about 30, said NCTA president and CEO Kyle McSlarrow. "Cable offers HD services to 100 million American households, and carries signals in 206 of the 210 U.S. TV markets,"

McSlarrow said. By comparison, he said, DirecTV offers local HD in only 60 markets, and EchoStar's Dish in just 30.

On the (much) smaller screen, cable's CEOs said they're approaching mobile video as additive to existing, cable delivered services - and not a replacement.

"I don't think taking video with you on the phone is any competition to what we do," said Bob Miron, chairman and CEO of Advance/Newhouse Communications. "Mobility is a great extra, but it's not competition to the base piece."

On the competitive front, Esser said Cox faces AT& T's U-verse and Verizon's
FiOS in some markets, and is taking the approach that both companies will eventually resolve any issues they face as they scale up to millions of customers. "A healthier view is to believe that they'll work it out. I'll enjoy it while they struggle, but they'll work it out."

Miron said most MSOs expected AT& T's move to offer DSL at $10/month, because it was promised as part of their merger negotiations with BellSouth. As to whether a pricing death match looms, Miron noted that "customers aren't anxious to leave when they're happy. It's when they're not happy that they start to wonder."

About that February, 2009 analog cutoff date: Watch for increasing consumer confusion about broadcasters going digital, Cox's Esser said. "By 2009, we'll have a new president, but we'll probably have the same broadcasters," he quipped.

Because of that, the onus is on the industry to be the good guy, Esser said.

By Traci Patterson

The SCTE Cable-Tec EXPO® Annual Awards Luncheon began with the transfer of a "very used gavel," as termed by the outgoing chairman of the board of the SCTE, Yvette Kanouff, CSO at SeaChange International.

Kanouff passed the baton to Tom Gorman, the VP of operations engineering at Charter Communications, who was elected to the role on Tuesday. Gorman, who recognized that people are probably getting tired of seeing his face everywhere, was also inducted into the SCTE Hall of Fame.

Ronald Brunt, president of the SCTE's West Virginia Mountaineer Chapter, was named Member of the Year for nearly single-handedly resurrecting the struggling chapter. Brunt is currently a systems engineer with Deployment Technologies Inc.

Kanouff handed Sally Kinsman the Chairman's Award. Kinsman is Aurora Networks' national account director and a nearly 30-year SCTE vet.

Brenda Hunt of Cox Communications was named Chapter Member of the Year for 2006; the Mount Rainier, New England and Cactus chapters received first, second and third place, respectively, for Chapter of the Year; System of the Year went to Cox Communications Orange County; Carolyn Terry of Time Warner Cable was given the Women in Technology award; Steven R. Harris of Comcast University landed the Excellence in Cable Telecommunications Learning and Development award; and Mark Eyer of Sony Electronics snagged the Excellence in Standards award.

The onslaught of services clamoring to ride "over the top" of cable's broadband pipes may require additional network investment - providing there's an economic return. "I'm still trying to figure out how you make money doing that stuff on the Internet," said Mike LaJoie, CTO of Time Warner Cable, at yesterday's CTO panel. "Certainly the technology is there to do it, if the demand occurs."

Plus, LaJoie reiterated, the Internet wasn't designed to carry traffic as bulky as video. "If one were to take one-quarter of today's multichannel, broadcast video and move it over the public Internet, "you'd bring it to its knees."

Terry Cordova, CTO of Suddenlink, said that while network neutrality remains top of mind, operators may ultimately need to consider consumption limits.

Sandvine Corp. has completed its acquisition of CableMatrix Technologies Inc. and has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Simplicita Software Inc..

The combined purchase price includes $4.5 million in cash, 900,000 Sandvine common shares, and 600,000 shares if certain sales targets and business metrics are met by 2008, the company said.

CableMatrix's products complement Sandvine's VoIP, IPTV, VOD and bandwidth on-demand solutions.

Simplicita provides network policy solutions with Sandvine's platforms, service provider data and third party sources. The agreement with Simplicita is subject to typical closing conditions and is expected to close by the end of this month.