Cox deploys BigBand HDTV solution

Cox Communications will utilize BigBand Networks' broadband multimedia routing systems for its deployment of high definition television (HDTV) services in two major markets.

The two deployments will be in Phoenix, Ariz., and Las Vegas, Nev., but the companies didn’t offer details on how extensive the deployments would be in those markets or if further market build-outs are in the works.

Multiple systems operators (MSOs), including Cox, have pledged to the FCC to offer limited HDTV programming within the next two years. While numerous programs are being broadcast in high definition, the cable industry has been slow to adopt them because of bandwidth constraints over their cable networks. A single HD broadcast can eat up the entire capacity of a 6 MHz broadcast channel, diminishing the total amount of programming MSOs can offer.

BigBand’s multimedia routers, however, use dynamic program-mapping and rate-shaping technologies that allow the MSOs to efficiently pack more programming onto a single channel by dynamically tweaking the bandwidth allocated to individual programs. BigBand Vice President of Corporate Development Seth Kenvin said BigBand’s technology can easily carry two high definition broadcasts on a 6 MHz channel and can pack three HD signals into the same pipe if necessary. The technology allows for greater efficiency for its non-HD programming, mapping as many as 13 standard definition digital broadcasts onto one 6 MHz channel.

Cox will deploy the routers in its headends and hubs, and while the company said it will use them for HDTV deployment, BigBand said Cox could also use them to route video-on-demand programming and broadband data with software upgrades.