Hdtv Cable

Long written off as a service nonstarter, high-definition TV channels delivered over cable networks actually may be moving closer to reality.

Charter Communications could be the first cable operator to offer HDTV over its networks. "Charter is committed to launching HDTV service this year in a select number of key markets," said a company spokesperson in a response to an e-mail question.

Industry watchers believe most of the major cable operators are quietly readying some form of HDTV rollout. HBO and Showtime are being named as the two most likely networks to get access to HDTV bandwidth on cable networks. Those subscription channels will then be followed by broadcast networks that offer high-definition feeds.

The apparent interest of cable operators in HDTV programming marks a major shift in attitude. Although cable companies have been upgrading their networks to deliver digital signals (HDTV is a digital technology), their goal so far has been to use digital to squeeze more program channels into their networks. HDTV was written out of early cable digital plans because it requires significantly more bandwidth than a conventional digital feed.

But new bandwidth-management technologies promise to fit more HDTV signal into less pipe. Vendors of such bandwidth shaping equipment won't say exactly how efficient their new gear is, but most are quietly boasting a 50% reduction in the bandwidth required for HDTV. That might be efficient enough to allow cable operators to make money off HDTV services.

If cable operators move ahead with plans to launch HDTV services, they could leapfrog currently stalled efforts by broadcasters to deliver HDTV signals over the airwaves. The Federal Communications Commission had made HDTV broadcasting a component of its plan to move broadcasters from analog to digital service, but the high cost of switching over to digital transmission and the slow uptake of digital TV sets by consumers have conspired to delay execution of that plan.

Even FCC Chairman Michael Powell has said the original plan for commercial broadcasters to switch to digital transmission by 2006 probably is unworkable.

Copyright © 2004 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in PC Magazine.

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