Group is actively pursuing broad industry connections

CableLabs, the technology clearing house for the cable television industry, has approved its budgets for 1992, providing some fascinating insights into where the cable industry will focus its efforts this year.

Among the new programs CableLabs will initiate are efforts toward the development of delivery systems for interactive and multimedia services. In a related announcement, André Chagnon, chairman and CEO of Le Groupe Vidéotron ltée and an industry leader in interactive cable television services, was elected to the CableLabs board of directors. CableLabs has also approved $1 million toward research in personal communications networks.

CableLabs has also approved the hiring of a high-level computer industry liaison, who will oversee efforts to “facilitate the use of the cable network distribution service provider for the delivery of present and future computer-related data and video applications.” Richard Green, president of the Boulder, Colorado-based CableLabs, says he’s actively recruiting for the position.

Programs currently under way include the research and implementation of video compression technology, as well as a continuing evaluation of high-definition TV (HDTV) developments (both delivery and display), fiber-optic deployment, and “user-friendly” connections between cable TV equipment and other consumer electronics devices.

A FASCINATING RANGE OF RESPONDENTS TO RFP

In other news, CableLabs has received nine responses to its Request for Proposal (RFP) for the acquisition of equipment for digital compression and delivery systems (see Vol. 1, No. 7, p. 18).

The technology is expected to be compatible across a wide range of applications, from satellite delivery of information to cable and fiber transmission networks, as well as decompression units in the home.

The nine respondents are AT&T, ComStream Corp., and News Datacom (partly controlled by The News Corporation, the Rupert Murdoch company); C. Itoh & Co. of Japan (which, rumor has it, has submitted a very interesting proposal); The Digital Television Consortium (Oak Communications, Leitch Video International and C-Cube Microsystems); General Instruments Corp.’s VideoCipher Division; Macrovision; Magnavox CATV Systems/Philips Electronics and Hughes Network Systems; Scientific Atlanta/Zenith Electronics Corp.; Thompson Consumer Electronics with the David Sarnoff Research Center; and Toshiba’s Imaging and Information Systems Division.

All over the map. Note the range of companies that are interested in producing such technology. Some of them are new to the cable and television arena; many of them are also competing for the HDTV transmission standard now before the FCC.

They are equipment manufacturers (Oak, Leitch, General Instruments, Scientific Atlanta), telecommunications companies (AT&T), research organizations (Sarnoff), publishers (The News Corp.), financial conglomerates (C. Itoh — which just made a major investment in Time Warner’s cable operations) and a handful of consumer electronics companies (Thompson, Zenith, Toshiba, Philips). Only one of them, C-Cube Microsystems, is known for its advocacy of the open MPEG video compression standard.

Industry insiders believe that General Instruments is the strong front-runner because of its relationships with some of the major cable operators.

In addition, the appointment of a former Nixon cabinet member as the corporation’s chairman may tighten the company’s Washington connections. CableLabs will probably pick a first and second choice for the digital service, so the more interesting race may be for second place.

A billion-dollar contract. The RFP is currently sponsored by CableLabs, TeleCommunications, Inc., Viacom and Public Broadcast System. It is expected that 20 to 30 additional companies will sign on to the agreement over the next year. The final contract may be valued at over $1 billion. Final selections will be made by the end of 1992.

DIGITAL COMMERCIAL INSERTION

Though this does sound a bit like a surgical procedure, CableLabs has also established the Compressed Digital Commercial/Program Insertion Task Force, which will be issuing a Request for Information (and ultimately a Request for Proposals) on a digital insertion system.

Most cable operators use a bank of VCRs, controlled by various custom and proprietary software and hardware packages, to place advertisements between programs or in pre-determined breaks. This is a labor-intensive operation, the image quality is often poor, and the current technology is prone to mechanical breakdowns. In addition, since each operator chooses its own system, there is no compatibility within the industry.

A compressed digital commercial insertion system would allow all advertising to be loaded onto a large magnetic computer hard drive (or drives). Then, on pre-programmed schedules, the system would find and decompress the correct commercial advertisement for direct transmission over the network. This would obviate the need for large numbers of tape decks, as well as the manual tracking required for proper broadcast schedules.

Such a system could be adapted in the future to the storage and playback of full-length programs as compression and storage technologies develop.

David Baron