A farewell to set-tops? Interdiction eliminates need for cable boxes >BY SHIRA LEVINE, New Media Editor

As customer satisfaction has become the latest catch phrase within the cable TV industry, interdiction equipment has become an unexpected tool for some multiple systems operators to gain consumer loyalty and, in some cases, even save money.

Traditionally, a cable operator scrambles its premium and pay-per-view channels at the headend, after they're streamed in over satellite or over the air. Those signals are then sent down the cable system to the television set, where they're unscrambled at the set-top box if the customer has subscribed to those channels.

With interdiction technology, all channels are sent unscrambled down the system to the interdiction device at the home, which replaces the tap at the intersection of the bus and the drop cable. Because the interdiction module is addressable, the subscriber information system at the headend can transmit information downstream about which channels each customer has subscribed to. The interdiction module then essentially "jams" the rest of the channels for that customer by injecting a carrier between the video and the audio frequencies.

As a result, consumers who subscribe to premium services don't need a set-top box to unscramble those channels, and MSOs are finding that wins them brownie points.

"People really do not like cable boxes," said David Alsobrook, product line director for interdiction at Scientific-Atlanta, the country's largest manufacturer of interdiction products.

Chambers Communications, which will use Scientific-Atlanta's equipment in rebuilds of two of its networks this spring, decided to go with interdiction instead of set-top boxes as a result of customer demand, said Bob Towe, vice president of cable operations at Chambers.

And the elimination of set-top boxes has given U S West the edge in Omaha, where it is going head-to-head against Cox Communications with its TeleChoice video service. "Interdiction has ended up being a huge competitive advantage for us," said Grant Gabrielson, general manager of TeleChoice. "We've found that our customers really like being able to use their cable-ready sets and their picture-in-picture to the full extent-that's why they bought those sets in the first place.

Another advantage is that with interdiction technology, subscribers to premium services are able to watch those channels on all their TV sets, not just those equipped with set-top boxes, Gabrielson said.

Nor are most cable operators particularly fond of set-top boxes, Alsobrook said. With traditional set-top technology, every time a consumer adds or drops a premium service, the MSO has to roll out to the home to install a box. Interdiction technology, on the other hand, allows the operator to turn premium services on and off from the headend, making it particularly attractive for multiple dwelling units, where there is often a high turnover of residents.

Interdiction also broadens the market for pay-per-view services, Alsobrook said. With traditional technology, only consumers who already have set-top boxes for premium services can order pay-per-view. Interdiction can provide additional revenue streams for cable operators because all cable subscribers can access pay-per-view movies and events.

Whether or not interdiction makes financial sense for an MSO depends on penetration rates, Alsobrook said. Each interdiction module supports four ports, one for each subscriber, making interdiction more cost-effective with a higher number of subscribers. With set-top boxes, however, the higher the penetration for premium services, the more set-tops the MSO needs to deploy.