About Us

DEN Networks Limited (DEN) incorporated in 2007, is an initiative driven towards changing the cable distribution landscape in India. It promises to deliver superior services to consumers through convergence of technologies.

The company is promoted by Sameer Manchanda, an industry veteran with over 20-years of experience in media & channel distribution. Raghav Bahl Promoter, Network18 Group, is a director of the Company.

DEN has an experience team which is led by CEO, Anuj Gandhi, Presidents S.N. Sharma, Vikas Bali and M.G. Azhar. As on September 30, 2009, DEN employs a robust team of approximately 1,095 employees (not including STAR-DEN's employees)

The MPA Report 2009 estimates that our cable television services reach approximately 10 million homes and that we have 300,000 digital cable television subscribers as of December 2008.

http://www.digitelly.in/App_Themes/Theme1/images/banner/careers.jpg

CareersDigitelly offers high-calibre individuals the opportunity to build a career in one of the most challenging and fast-moving business environments. To be a part of Team-Digitelly, one needs to be able to imbibe and live by Digitelly values and ethical standards, and have the skills and motivation to play a major role in Digitelly's journey to success.

At Digitelly, we consider people to be our greatest assets. Professional and self-motivated individuals in

every part of our organization are the key to achieving excellent customer service and continued growth.

While you give your best to the organization, Digitelly takes care of your career through a well-structured career progression program. Besides providing immense opportunities to learn and develop, we ensure that you progress at the desired pace in your career. At Digitelly, we use competency evaluation and performance as criteria for growth. Adequate developmental opportunities are provided to all employees, which over a period of time enhance individual capability.

We invite you to join us for an exciting future and be a part of our mission to change the way entertainment is delivered in India.

Know Cable TV

 

 Marketed under the brand name Digitelly it uses digital video compression that helps cable networks increase the variety of programming available on their networks and using video compression to transfer more channels to consumers. Digitelly offers unique advantage of digital cable i.e. it has the functionality of the set top box that has two-way communication, allowing for the purchase of pay-per-view programming without use of a phone line, in addition to video-on-demand services, a secure signal and India’s first Cable Triple Play player which will lead the way for true convergence of video, data and voice. It will also offer value added services, gaming & internet to maximize value and will drive content aggregation.  

How it Works? When cable TV began in India, the broadcast medium was Analog Cable. We received a single, analog composite video signal and a separate sound signal.

Digital cable is a type of cable television distribution that uses digital video compression. This technology helps cable networks increase the variety of programming available on their networks, using video compression to transfer more channels to consumers.

Plus you get best DVD quality pictures & clear sound that gives you a theatre-like experience, high quality & international standard services without having to buy expensive equipment. The viewing experience will be the difference that one experiences between B/W TV and colour TV.

The added advantage of digital cable is the functionality of the set top box to have two-way communication, allowing for the purchase of pay-per-view programming without use of a phone line, in addition to video-on-demand services and a secure signal. 

Receives

Subscribing to Digitelly is easy! Just get in touch with us or call your local cable operator to experience the ultimate in digital entertainment.

Already available in Allahabad, Bangalore, Baroda, Delhi, Gurgaon, Kanpur, Lucknow, Nasik, Navi Mumbai, Pune and Surat Digitelly is fast expanding to other cities of the country. To check for future plans and packages, send us an email at digitellycare@denonline.in.

Take a look at what you're missing!

Digitelly serves approximately 10 million subscribers, providing services in Delhi, and selected cities of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala. The aggressive ramp-up has been achieved through a process of consolidation of the on-ground cable TV distribution industry. Digitelly's business strategy was to co-opt the cable operators as a stakeholder in the business through acquiring, aggregating and

expanding the businesses of existing operators including multi-system operators. This organic growth and acquisitions has enabled Digitelly to distribute cable television services in approximately 77 cities in India . Digitelly aims to further consolidate its position and expand cable distribution services to other major Indian cities.

Click on the icons to view list of locations

 S. No Name of city Amount*

1 Allahabad 9992 Baroda 9993 Cochin 9994 Delhi 9995 Gurgaon 9996 Jaipur 9997 Kanpur 9998 Karnataka (Bangalore) 9999 Lucknow 99910 Mumbai 99911 Navi Mumbai 99912 Nasik 99913 Pune 99914 Rajkot 99915 Surat 999     

* Amount Charged is for Activation and Registration.

 

Cable televisionFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Coaxial cable is often used to transmit cable television into a residence. The term RG-59 comes from an obsolete military book Radio Guide, the number referring to the page in the guide.[citation needed]

Cable television is a system of providing television to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through fixed optical fibers or coaxial cables located on the subscribers property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional television broadcasting (via radio waves) in which a television antenna is required. FM radio programming, high-speed Internet, telephony, and similar non-television services may also be provided. The major difference is the change of radio frequency signals used and optical connections to the subscriber property.

The abbreviation CATV is often used to mean "Cable TV". It originally stood for Community Antenna Television, from cable television's origins in 1948: in areas where over-the-air reception was limited by distance from transmitters or mountainous terrain, large "community antennas" were constructed, and cable was run from them to individual homes. The origins of cable broadcasting are even older as radio programming was distributed by cable in some European cities as far back as 1924.

It is most commonplace in North America, Europe, Australia and East Asia, though it is present in many other countries, mainly in South America and the Middle East. Cable TV has had little success in Africa, as it is not cost-effective to lay cables in sparsely populated areas. So-called "wireless cable" or microwave-based systems are used instead.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Cable_television

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

WikiProject Media [hide]

Journalism portal

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Media, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Media on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.

??? This article has not yet received a rating on the project's

quality scale.

??? This article has not yet received a rating on the project's

importance scale.

[show]WikiProject Media To-do List:

Here are some tasks you can do:

Article requests : Myanmar News Agency, Lisa Sylvester (CNN reporter)

Cleanup : Media influence, Video game culture NPOV : Content (media and publishing) Verify : Multimedia, Alternative media, Alternative newspaper

WikiProject Television [hide]

Television portal

This article is part of WikiProject Television, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to television programs and related subjects on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page,

where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.

??? This article has not yet received a rating on the project's quality scale.

??? This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.

The article 'Premium TV' currently redirects here. I just created an article, PremiumTV, about the UK company with the same name. I'm not sure whether the redirect is still appropriate, maybe it is. I put in a disambiguation page, is that OK? === Jez === 09:16, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Premium TV doesn't exist, so a Premium TV (disambiguation)-page doesn't make sense? Zido 20:33, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

over the airwaves where anyone (including children) can receive them."

I understand the point whoever was trying to make, but you have to get the child perfectly aligned to pick up even the major stations :) I can't think how to reword this - please help. Verloren

"the signals are not transmitted over the airwaves where anyone with a television set (including children) can receive them." How's that? Darkwind 20:20 19 May 2003 (UTC)

This article is very US-centric. Surely someone out there can write a history of cable television in Europe? 18.24.0.120 23:12, 25 Jan 2004 (UTC)

If "basic cable" redirects here, it needs to actually talk about basic cable in some way. -Branddobbe 07:08, Apr 15, 2004 (UTC)

Contents[hide]

1 Cable television deployments o 1.1 Asia & Australia

1.1.1 Australia 1.1.2 Philippines 1.1.3 Mongolia 1.1.4 Maldives

o 1.2 Latin America 1.2.1 Panamá 1.2.2 Dominican Republic

o 1.3 Europe 1.3.1 Ireland 1.3.2 United Kingdom

o 1.4 North America 1.4.1 Canada 1.4.2 USA

1.4.2.1 Fee structure 2 Other cable-based services 3 Consumer issues 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Cable television deployments

[edit] Asia & Australia

[edit] Australia

Cable television began in the early 1990s in Australia. Several companies appeared including FOXTEL, Galaxy TV, OPTUS TV, Selectv and Austar offering services to homes across the major states of Australia. Services to Tasmania and the Northern Territory took longer to start, not until the mid 2000's when the digital satellite pay television service had picked up momentum and was beginning to be used for metropolitan installs and not just rural installs.

[edit] Philippines

“NUVUE”, the first cable television system, was set up in Baguio City spearheaded by American expatriate Russel Swartley in 1969. Popularity of CATV started in the 1980s after the Marcos administration. Cable giant SkyCable started in 1992. Cable providers grown, and these some examples are Global Destiny & Cablelink, and some regional cable providers. In 2007, SkyCable introduced the DigiBox, which provides more high quality picture and to prevent illegal connections. SkyCable also broadcasted HD in the 37th Ryder Cup in 2008.

[edit] Mongolia

There are several cable TV providers in Mongolia. The main three are "SuperVision", "Hiimori" and "Sansar CATV". All three cover approximately 10 national channels and 40 foreign channels, such as CNN, BBC, and NHK. Among them "SuperVision" is known for its superior quality and gives much more interesting channels, such as National Geographic and Discovery. "Sansar" and "Hiimori" and other smaller companies fill their channel list with Chinese and Indian channels.[citation needed]

[edit] Maldives

There are only two cable TV operators in the country.[citation needed] As the population of the Maldives is separated across around 200 inhabited islands, there is a cable TV operator for nearly every island. Media Net Pvt. Ltd. is the country's largest cable TV operator (providing only analog service, although digital service has been announced. Media Net is a Male-based cable TV operator that provides cable and MMDS service to five islands near Male. Media Net holds a distribution license for 75 channels and distributes channels to nearly all the operators of the country. In Maldives, cable TV subscribers can get most premium channels in available in Asia.

[edit] Latin America

[edit] Panamá

Panamanian company Rexa started Cable TV deployment in 1983. Rexa's successor, Cableonda, was dominant throughout the 1990s, but as the customer base expanded, other companies entered the market. Since 2000 several companies compete for the Panamanian market, such as CTV, Cable Onda, Cablevision, Cable and Wireless, and others. Cable Onda is the largest. The penetration of CableTV in Panamá is at 40%.[citation needed]

[edit] Dominican Republic

Cable television in the Dominican Republic is provided by a variety of companies. These companies offer both English and Spanish language television, plus a range of channels in other languages, high definition channels, pay-per-view movies and events, sports packages and premium movie channels such as HBO, Playboy TV, Cinecanal, etc. Also, the channels are from not only the Dominican Republic, but also the United States and Europe. In the Dominican Republic television spectrum, there are 46 VHF, UHF, and free-to-air channels. The free of charge channels programming consists mainly of locally produced entertainment shows, news, and comedy shows; and foreign sit-coms, soap operas, movies, cartoons, and sports programs.

The main service provider in the Dominican Republic is Telecable from Tricom. Aster is concentrated in Santo Domingo, but is expanding its service throughout the Dominican Republic. There are also new companies using new technologies that are expanding quickly such as Claro TV (IPTV), Wind Telecom (MMDS) and SKY (Satellite TV).

[edit] Europe

[edit] IrelandMain article: Cable Television in Ireland

Cable television is the most common system for distributing multi-channel television in Ireland. With more than 40 year of history and extensive networks of both wired and "wireless" cable, Ireland is amongst the most cabled countries in Europe. Forty percent[1] of Irish homes received cable television in September 2006. The figure dropped slightly in the early years of the 21st century due to the increased popularity of satellite reception, notably Sky, but has stabilized recently.

In the Republic of Ireland, UPC Ireland is by far the largest cable and MMDS operator, owning all of the state's MMDS licenses and almost all of the state's cable TV operators. UPC offers analogue and digital cable television services in cities and towns throughout the country (with the exception of Cork, where the network is digital-only). It offers MMDS services in rural areas. In areas previously served by NTL, the network is digital-only, while Chorus areas still have both analogue and digital services. Other than UPC, the only other operator providing analogue and digital cable is Casey Cablevision, which operates in Dungarvan, County Waterford. There also exists a small number of analogue-only cable networks such as the Longford service Crossan Cable.

[edit] United Kingdom

When the infant BBC Television service was started in 1932, Rediffusion, which had supplied cable radio services since 1928, started providing "Pipe TV" to its customers who had difficulties tuning into the weak TV broadcast signal[2].

Suspended during World War II, the BBC service was re-established in June 1946, and had only one transmitter, at Alexandra Palace, which served the London area. From the end of 1949, new transmitters were steadily opened to serve other major conurbations, and then smaller areas of population. The areas on the fringes of the transmitter coverage provided an opportunity for Rediffusion and other commercial companies to expand cable systems to enlarge the viewing audience for the one BBC television channel which then existed. The first was in Gloucester in 1950[3] and the process gathered pace over the next few years, especially after a second television channel, ITV, was launched in 1955 to compete with BBC. By the late 1970s, two and a half million British homes received their television service via cable.[4]

By law, these cable systems were restricted to the relay of the public broadcast channels, which meant that as the transmitter network became more comprehensive, the incentive to subscribe to cable was reduced and they began to lose customers. In 1982, a radical liberalization of the law on cable was proposed by the Information Technology Advisory Panel[5] , for the sake of promoting a new generation of broadband cable systems leading to the wired society[6] After setting up and receiving the conclusions of the Hunt Inquiry into Cable Expansion and Broadcasting Policy, the Government decided to proceed with liberalization and two pieces of

legislation: the Cable and Broadcasting Act and the Telecommunications Act, were enacted in 1984.

The result was that cable systems were permitted to carry as many new television channels as they liked, as well as providing a telephone service and interactive services of many kinds (as since made familiar by the Internet). To maintain the momentum of the perceived commercial interest in this new investment opportunity, in 1983, the Government itself granted eleven interim franchises for new broadband systems each covering a community of up to around 100,000 homes, but the competitive franchising process was otherwise left to the new regulatory body, the Cable Authority, which took on its powers from January 1, 1985.

The franchising process proceeded steadily, but the actual construction of new systems was slow, as doubts about an adequate payback from the substantial investment persisted. By the end of 1990 almost 15 million homes had been included in franchised areas, but only 828,000 of these had been passed by broadband cable and only 149,000 were actually subscribing.[7] Thereafter, however, construction accelerated and take-up steadily improved.

The first new television channels launched for carriage on cable systems (going live in March 1984) were Sky Channel, Screensport, Music Box and TEN - the Movie Channel. Others followed, some were merged or closed down, but the range expanded. A similar flux was seen among the operators of cable systems: franchises were granted to a host of different companies, but a process of consolidation saw the growth of large multiple system operators, until by the early 2000s, virtually the whole industry was in the hands of two companies, NTL and Telewest.

In 2005, it was announced that NTL and Telewest would merge, after a period of co-operation in the preceding few years. This merger was completed on March 3, 2006, with the company being named ntl Incorporated. For the time being, the two brand names and services were marketed separately. However, following NTL's acquisition of Virgin Mobile, the NTL and Telewest services were rebranded Virgin Media on February 8, 2007, creating a single cable operator covering more than 95% of the UK cable market.[citation needed]

There are a small number of other surviving cable television companies in the UK outside of NTL including WightCable (Isle of Wight) and Smallworld (Ayrshire, Carlisle and Lancashire).

Cable TV faces intense competition from British Sky Broadcasting's Sky Digital satellite television service. Most channels are carried on both platforms. However, cable often lacks "interactive" features (e.g. text services, and extra video-screens), especially on BSkyB owned channels, and the satellite platform lacks services requiring high degrees of two-way communication, such as true video on demand.

However, subscription-funded digital terrestrial television proved less of a competitive threat. The first system, ITV Digital, went into liquidation in 2002. Top Up TV later replaced it; however, this service is shrinking[citation needed] as the DVB-T multiplex owners are finding free-to-air broadcasting more profitable.[citation needed]

Another potential source of competition in the future will be TV over broadband internet connections; this is known as IPTV. Some IPTV services are currently available in London, while services operated in Hull ceased in April 2006.[citation needed] As the speed and availability of broadband connections increase, more TV content can be delivered using protocols such as IPTV. However, its impact on the market is yet to be measured, as is consumer attitude toward watching TV programs on computers instead of television sets. At the end of 2006, BT (the UK's former state owned monopoly phone company) started offering BT Vision, which combines the digital free-to-air standard Freeview through an aerial, and on-demand IPTV, delivered over a BT Broadband connection through the Vision set-top box (BT have chosen to deploy Microsoft's Mediaroom platform for this.)[citation needed]

[edit] North America

The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (November 2009)

[edit] CanadaFurther information: Multichannel television in Canada

In 1949, Broadcast Relay Service began negotiations for the implementation of what was to be the first large scale cable TV system in North America. The development of the system relied on reaching agreement with Quebec Hydro-Electric Commission to utilise their existing network of power poles supplying power to the Montreal Metro area. Initial discussions began with a meeting with Montreal City Council on June 21 1949. After many months if negotiation agreement was reached between Hydro Quebec and Rediffusion on February 28 1950 for an initial 5 year period. The Rediffusion cable system was operational in 1952 and eventually supplied 80,000 homes in Montreal Quebec. Cable television in Canada began in 1952 with community antenna connections in Vancouver and London, Ontario; which city is first is not clear. Initially, the systems brought American stations to viewers in Canada who had no Canadian stations to watch; broadcast television, though begun late in 1952 in Toronto and Montreal, did not reach a majority of cities until 1954.

In time, cable television was widely established to carry available Canadian stations as well as import American stations, which constituted the vast majority of signals on systems (usually only one or two Canadian stations, while some systems had duplicate or even triplicate coverage of American networks). During the 1970s, a growing number of Canadian stations pushed American channels off the systems, forcing several to expand beyond the original 12-channel system configurations. At the same time, the advent of fibre-optic technology enabled companies to extend their systems to nearby towns and villages that by themselves were not viable cable television markets.

[edit] USAFurther information: Cable television in the United States

[edit] Fee structureParts of this article (those related to section) may no longer be up to date. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information, and remove this template when finished. Please see the talk page for more information. (May 2010)

The industry strongly lobbies against federal "family tier" and "a la carte cable television" bills which would provide consumers the option of purchasing individual channels rather than a broad tier of programming, sometimes consisting of channels which are not desired by various subscriber segments. These anti-consumer issues continue to garner attention from state governments, Congress and U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Kevin Martin.[8] What's more, the argument calling for an adjustment to the manner in which cable is distributed was reaffirmed in January 2010 when cable subscribers throughout Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York found themselves in the middle of a contentious battle over an increase in subscriber fees paid to the media company Scripps Networks Interactive by cable provider Cablevision. The parties' contract expired December 31, 2009, and as they were unable to reach a mutual agreement beforehand regarding the amount paid for each cable subscriber, Scripps pulled two of its television channels, HGTV and Food Network, from the Cablevision channel lineup on January 1, 2010 at 12:01AM.[9][10][11][12]

[edit] Other cable-based services

Coaxial cables are capable of bi-directional carriage of signals as well as the transmission of large amounts of data. Cable television signals use only a portion of the bandwidth available over coaxial lines. This leaves plenty of space available for other digital services such as cable internet, cable telephony and wireless services, using both unlicensed and licensed spectrum.

Broadband Internet is achieved over coaxial cable by using cable modems to convert the network data into a type of digital signal that can be transferred over coaxial cable. One problem with some cable systems is the older amplifiers placed along the cable routes are unidirectional thus in order to allow for uploading of data the customer would need to use an analog telephone modem to provide for the upstream connection. This limited the upstream speed to 31.2k and prevented the always-on convenience broadband internet typically provides. Many large cable systems have upgraded or are upgrading their equipment to allow for bi-directional signals, thus allowing for greater upload speed and always-on convenience, though these upgrades are expensive.

In North America, Australia and Europe many cable operators have already introduced cable telephone service, which operates just like existing fixed line operators. This service involves installing a special telephone interface at the customer's premises that converts the analog signals from the customer's in-home wiring into a digital signal, which is then sent on the local loop (replacing the analog last mile, or POTS) to the company's switching center, where it is connected to the PSTN. The biggest obstacle to cable telephone service is the need for nearly 100% reliable service for emergency calls. One of the standards available for digital cable telephony, PacketCable, seems to be the most promising and able to work with the Quality of Service demands of traditional analog POTS service. The biggest advantage to digital cable telephone service is similar to the advantage of digital cable TV, namely that data can be

compressed, resulting in much less bandwidth used than a dedicated analog circuit-switched service. Other advantages include better voice quality and integration to a VoIP network providing cheap or unlimited nationwide and international calling. Note that in many cases, digital cable telephone service is separate from cable modem service being offered by many cable companies and does not rely on IP traffic or the Internet.

Beginning in 2004 in the United States, the traditional cable television providers and traditional telecommunication companies increasingly compete in providing voice, video and data services to residences. The combination of TV, telephone and Internet access is commonly called triple play regardless of whether CATV or telcos offer it.

More recently, several US cable operators have begun offering wireless services to their subscribers. Most notably was the September 2008 launch of Optimum Wi-Fi by Cablevision. This service is made available, at no additional cost, to Optimum Broadband subscribers, and is available at over 14,000 locations across Long Island, NY, parts of NJ and CT. Cablevision has reported a double digit reduction in subscriber churn since launching Optimum Wi-Fi, even as Verizon has rolled out FiOS, a competitive residential broadband service in the Cablevision footprint. Other Tier 1 cable operators, including Comcast, have announced trials of a similar service in sections of the US Northeast.

[edit] Consumer issues

Using a cable service naturally requires that access to a cable network be installed at the customer location. Laying and maintaining this cable has costs. From the consumer's viewpoint, having a choice of who provides this service may be deemed desirable, however from a business viewpoint it may be undesirable as this would require multiple companies investing in laying many generally identical cables to the same location. Altogether that could mean greater costs, since there is more physical cable in existence. Therefore the idea of a natural monopoly may apply, whereby in most places only one cable provider is preferable (seemingly for all concerned). Competition in one place may therefore come in the form of terrestrial or satellite providers. As with all situations where competition is in some way limited, there is a potential for consumers to feel they are unfairly treated by the market. Market regulators may therefore tend to limit such consumer concerns by broadening the consumers choice from a single provider, for instance in expecting them to offer variously priced channel selections, improving service other times (for instance, by making use of technological progress) and measures such as providing free-for-all (public) TV.

[edit] See also

Digital cableFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page.

This article needs additional citations for verification.Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2006)

Digital cable is a generic term for any type of cable television distribution using digital video compression or distribution. The technology was originally developed by Motorola.[1]

Contents[hide]

1 Background 2 Channels 3 Preserving Bandwidth 4 Technical information 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Background

In 1989, General Instrument (which was later acquired by Motorola) demonstrated that it was possible to convert an analog cable signal to digital and transmit it in a standard 6-MHz television channel. In the 1990s cable providers began to invest heavily in new digital based distribution systems. Increased competition and programming choices from Direct-broadcast satellite services such as DirecTV, Dish Network, and PrimeStar caused cable providers to seek new ways to provide more programming. Customers were increasingly interested in more channels, pay-per-view programming, digital music services, and high speed internet services. By 2000, most cable providers in the US were offering some form of digital services to their customers.

Digital cable technology has allowed cable providers to compress video channels so that they take up less frequency space and to offer various two-way communication capabilities. This has

enabled digital cable providers to offer more channels, video on demand services (without use of a telephone line), telephone services, high speed internet services, and interactive television services. In addition, digital cable technology allows for error correction to ensure the quality of the received signal and uses a secure digital distribution system (i.e. a secure encrypted signal to prevent eavesdropping and theft of service).

Most digital cable providers use QAM for video services and DOCSIS standards for data services. Some providers have also begun to roll out video services using IPTV or Switched video technologies.

[edit] Channels

Digital cable technology can allow many TV channels to occupy the frequency space that would normally be occupied by a single analog cable TV channel. The number of channels placed on a single analog frequency depends on the compression used. Many cable providers are able to fit about 10 digital SD channels or 2 digital HD channels on a single analog channel frequency. Some providers are able to squeeze more channels onto a single frequency with higher compression, but often this can cause the video quality of the channel to degrade.

The addition of this capability complicates the notion of a "channel" in digital cable (as well as in over-the-air ATSC digital broadcasts). The formal names for the two numbers that now identify a channel are the physical channel and the subchannel.

The physical channel is a number corresponding to a specific 6MHz frequency range. See: North American cable television frequencies.

The subchannel is a logical channel of data within the physical channel. Technically there can be up to 1024 subchannels in a physical channel, though in practice only a few are used (since the bandwidth must be divided among all the subchannels).

There are two ways providers try to make this easier for consumers. The first, accomplished through PSIP, is where program and channel information is broadcast along with the video, allowing the consumer's decoder (set-top box or display) to automatically identify the many channels and subchannels.

The second (also accomplished through PSIP) is where, in an effort to hide subchannels entirely, many cable companies map virtual channel numbers to underlying physical and sub-channels. For example, a cable company might call channel 5-1 "channel 732" and channel 5-2 "channel 733". This also allows the cable company to change the frequency of a channel without changing what the customer sees as a channel number. In such arrangements, the physical/sub-channel numbers are called the "QAM channel", and the alternative channel designation is called the "mapped channel", "virtual channel", or simply "channel".

In theory, a set-top box can decode the PSIP information from every channel it receives and use that information to build the mapping between QAM channel and virtual channel. However,

cable companies do not always reliably transmit PSIP information. Alternatively, CableCards receive the channel mapping and can communicate that to the set-top box.

[edit] Preserving Bandwidth

Digital cable has allowed for out of market television stations to be removed from the basic cable lineup from Channels 2 through 13. They would be moved over to digital cable channels 100 and above for bandwidth preservation. Currently, Comcast Cable outlets in New Jersey and Virginia are adapting this in significantly viewed counties that are bordering nearby television markets.

[edit] Technical informationThis section does not cite any references or sources.Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2009)

The standard for signal transmission over digital cable television systems in the United States is now fixed as both 64-QAM and 256-QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation), which is specified in SCTE 07, and is part of the DVB standard (but not ATSC). This method carries 38.47 Mbit/s using 256-QAM on a 6 MHz channel, which can carry nearly two full ATSC 19.39 Mbit/s transport streams. Each 6-MHz channel is typically used to carry 7–12 digital SDTV channels (256-QAM, MPEG2 MP/ML streams of 3–5 Mbit/s). On many boxes with QAM tuners (most notably the DVR boxes), High Definition versions of local channels and some cable channels are available.

Digital Cable allows for the broadcast of EDTV (480p) as well as HDTV (720p, 1080i, and eventually 1080p). By contrast, analog cable transmits programs solely in the 480i format (the lowest television definition in use today).

The ATSC standards include a provision for 16-VSB transmission over cable at 38.4 Mbit/s, but the encoding has not yet gained wide acceptance. Some MATV systems may carry 8-VSB and QAM signals, mostly in apartment buildings and similar facilities that use a combination of terrestrial antennas and cable distribution sources (such as HITS or "Headend in the Sky", a unit of Comcast that delivers digital channels by satellite to small cable systems).

Digital cable channels typically are allocated above 552 MHz, the upper frequency of cable channel 78. (Cable channels above channel 13 are at lower frequencies than UHF broadcast channels with the same number, as seen in North American cable television frequencies.) Between 552 and 750 MHz, there is space for 33 6-MHz channels (231–396 SDTV channels); when going all the way to 864 MHz, there is space for 52 6-MHz channels (364–624 SDTV channels).

In the U.S., digital cable systems with 750 MHz or greater activated channel capacity are required to comply with a set of SCTE and CEA standards, and to provide CableCARDs to customers that request them.

How Cable TV began and spread in India

Cable TV has its roots in the late seventies. Indian television viewers were looking for entertainment options, apart from what state-owned broadcaster DD was offering. That came their way with the import and manufacture of video cassette recorders permitted domestically. There was a veritable boom in video cassette recorder sales during this period. Enterprising individuals in apartment blocks placed a video in their homes or their garages and started offering a cable TV service to people who opted for it. The fare available was Hindi and English movies and pirated western comedies, music and game shows. At this stage, cable TV was restricted to the major metros and towns and the upper crust of society.

The impetus for its spread came in 1990 with the advent of the Gulf war. Ted Turner's CNN started beaming news reports of the bombing of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein and sparked off a demand for satellite dishes. Only the affluent could afford them. Some cable operators who had been running their Hindi and English movie channels added dishes and started relaying CNN into homes. This spurred demand for cable TV, making it a lucrative business and it attracted more individuals to the industry.

The launch of Star TV and ZeeTV further fuelled the spread of cable TV. In the first half of 1992, almost 4,500 households were being cabled up daily. That figure increased to 9,450 homes daily in the second half of the year, according to a study conducted by market research firm - Frank Small for Star TV: on how many homes could receive its service. (If one considers that almost all Indian cable homes can receive Star TV because it shares the same platform as Zee TV then the numbers would be a fair representation of the total number of C&S homes at that time because Zee TV has almost 100% penetration in cable homes.) From a mere 412,000 urban households in January 1992, the number of cable homes went up to 1.2 million by November 1992. The number of homes

estimated in 1993 was 3.3 million according to the Frank Small study. This is estimated to have gone up to 7.3 million by January 1994, according to one estimate. Frank Small once again surveyed the market in end-1994 and the firm placed the number of cable & satellite homes at 11.8 million out of a total of 32.4 million TV owning homes.

Subsequently, no extensive research was conducted by the industry which went by guesstimates until two readership surveys were conducted in 1995. The two national readership surveys: the Indian Readership Survey and the National Readership Survey pegged the penetration of C&S at below 10 million in 1995 whereas industry estimates placed it at least 14 million. The NRS said that 9.3 million homes in urban India were cabled while the IRS said that the numbers for urban and rural India were 8.4 million and 3.4 million respectively. No further updates have been done because of the magnitude of the research covering a population of almost 70 million TV homes today. Nevertheless, the satellite TV industry has upped its estimate for C&S homes to about 22 million now attributing the increase to the spread of the cable TV networks in smaller towns, villages and untapped developing areas on the outskirts of major metros, where cable TV is being installed in housing at the time of construction itself.

Cable TV growth in urban India

YearNumber of

households Cabled

January 1992 412,000 *

November 1992

1.2 million *

1993 3.3 million *

January 1994 7.4 million

End-1994 11.8 million *

1995 15 million

1996 18 million

1999 22 million

*Frank Small studies; the rest are industry estimates

.

The business has undergone a transformation too. In the beginning it was small and driven by entrepreneurs. At one time the cable TV operators population was estimated at a sky high 100,000. Your neighbour's wife and brother-in-law also wanted to be a cable operator. For the past three years, large companies have also set up their own cable networks. Among them: InCablenet (managed by the Hinduja group), Siticable (a joint venture between Zee TV promoter Subhash Chandra and Rupert Murdoch's News Television), Asianet, Hathway Cable & Datcom, Ortel Communications and RPG Netcom (a company promoted by the RPG group). While the Hindujas claim to have invested close to Rs 2000 million into their network building, Siticable talks of a higher figure of close to Rs 2500 million. But the MSOs have concentrated on the major metros only. They have yet to spread out into the smaller towns and the interiors of India over time where cable TV networks are still in the hands of small businessmen.

International cable networking companies such as United International Holdings, TCI and Falcon Cable of the US, have tested the waters: While UIH almost set up a joint venture with the RPG group which did not fructify, TCI/Time Warner discussed possibilities with the Times of India group which were inconclusive. Falcon Cable however, were successful in establishing a joint venture with the Hindustan Times publishing group in New Delhi called India Information Technologies Ltd. An investment of nearly Rs 50 million was made to buy over a few small cable TV networks. The company however did not take charge of the networks, leaving them to be run by the cable operators. The joint venture was in litigation for quite sometime and finally Falcon Cable had to wash its hands off it. International investors and cable TV networks are still place hope in the Indian cable TV market. United International Holdings is in partnership with liquor group UB. Falcon Cable and Cox Communications are meanwhile waiting for some semblance of order in this industry before committing further resources.

The entry of the big boys in the business led to consolidation amongst smaller operators several of whom combined their resources to set up sophisticated headbands capable of delivering 30-50 channels similar to the bouquet of the MSOs. And as the MSOs increased the number of channels that they were offering, the independents have also kept pace. Today, in cities like Mumbai, Indian viewers can hook into more than 65 channels. . Some of the major agglomerations that emerged initially were: Seven Star and Shree Bhawani in Mumbai, Malleswaram Cable Network and UCN in Bangalore, SkyVision in Ahmedabad. By 1999, one of them had partnered with the fast moving Hathway Cable &

Datacom. But they all operate on the similar model: franchising of their cable TV feed to smaller operators.

The programming that cable TV offers ranges from Hindi films to local events like fairs, religious discourses, civic elections, regional news, community games such as Bingo and favourite local sports. Practically, every network has at least two cable channels -sometimes both of which screen Hindi movies and songs. At one time they also screened pirated or illegal versions of English movies. This ceased with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) cracking down heavily on these cable operators. But piracy keeps cropping up on cable TV networks the moment the pressure is eased. The larger cable TV networks have their own branded channels too: Siticable has SitiCinema.; InCable has CVO while Hathway has C-News.

That the programming on these cable channels is extremely popular is evident from the audience share they manage to garner. They rank second after DD on this parameter in all cities. As an example cable TV accounted for close to 11.7% of share of the audience in Delhi in 1996 during prime time on Sunday evenings, and 8.4% on weekdays. The numbers for the other cities were 8.4% and 4.6% for Chennai and Mumbai on Sunday evenings and 6.4% for weekdays in Mumbai during prime time. However, they cannot really attract advertising to the extent of their viewership because of the fragmented nature of the cable networks and there being no central body to work as a channelising agent for the thousands of networks in a city. Cable channels attract no more than Rs 250-300 million advertising annually, according to back-of-the-envelope calculations by one of the large MSOs. But the potential is enormous: some even quote the annual ad revenue potential being in the region of some Rs 1200 million, if some efforts are made.

STATEWISE PENETRATION OF CABLE & SATELLITE TV(1995)

StatePenetratio

n (%)

Gujarat 58

Andhra Pradesh

45

Tamil Nadu 41

Karnataka 41

Madhya Pradesh

37

Punjab 34

Maharashtra

33

Orissa 31

Bihar 28

Harayana 27

Source: IMRB study for Sony Entertainment Television

©Copyright; Ambez Media & Market Research, 1999.

Click here to go back

Click here to go to indiantelevision.com - Your one stop source for everything related to Indian television.