Coaxial Cable Television Becomes First All-Digital System in North America

With all the ruckus about the shift towards the digital age, Coaxial Cable has announced that they have successfully completed their installation of their Challenger all-digital platform today. What makes this newsworthy is it is believed they are the first independent cable operator in North America to completely eliminate analog programming services and deliver an all-digital platform to their subscribers.

The transition from their hybrid analog/digital infrastructure to an all-digital platform was accomplished through a phased rollout. Coaxial Cable’s platform now complete, has enabled them to offer subscribers both standard and high definition programming, higher speed broadband, VoIP, and additional services that are available because of the freed-up bandwidth. Using the TVS Challenger Platform, their 550 MHz system delivers 187 channels to over 4000 subscribers.

The TVS Challenger platform delivers CATV multiplexing and signal-compression technology. The platform is designed specifically for independent cable operators, with as few as 500 subscribers, to larger operators with 100,000 plus network operations. When receiving digital programs and applications direct from programmers, it is possible, in the space of a single six-foot rack, for the Challenger to provide 200-300 programs.

These program sources can be analog or digital programs. The outputs can be multiple carrier, 64/256 QAM outputs, or ASI for transport to other locations. Platform configurations include a subscriber management system, a conditional access system, an interactive program guide, and a range of set-top boxes.

(Source) Press