Cable Engineers Plot IP Video Migration at SCTE Show
NEW ORLEANS -- Eager to extend their industry’s video reach to all IP-enabled consumer display devices, cable technologists are now openly discussing how they will make the big transition to all-IPTV. However, they're not yet sure how much bandwidth, time and effort will be required to carry out that transition. Speaking at the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers show last week, speakers from Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Cisco Systems and SCTE said cable operators will soon begin the long-awaited IPTV migration by simulcasting their linear channels via an IP overlay. They differed somewhat over the number of bonded channels that cable operators will need to get the transition underway.
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Cable operators could begin by bonding four channels and dedicating them to an IP video overlay, said Chief Technology Officer John Chapman of Cisco’s access and transport technology group. Citing the company’s new “Four, Eight, 16 Strategy,” he said operators could then move up to eight bonded channels to carry a mix of standard-definition and HD TV digital channels. He suggested that a full IP video programming lineup, delivered to 50 percent of all homes passed, would require 16 bonded channels. “The technology is still evolving,” Chapman said. “We can’t find a total IP video solution now. … We'll get to all-IP, but the challenge is getting there smoothly.” He estimated that the full transition could take up to a decade.
Cox executives believe “eight channels is the right amount to get up and going” because of the company’s recent spectrum upgrades, said Jay Rolls, senior vice president of technology. Unlike most cable operators, Cox has already upgraded most of its major cable systems to 1 GHz capacity, not 750 or 860 MHz. He said the company would probably still need to bond 16 channels together to support both its IP video and broadband services. “Bandwidth is a gift that keeps on giving,” he said half-jokingly. Steve Reynolds, senior vice president of consumer premises equipment and home networking at Comcast, declined to say how many channels might be needed to replicate today’s RF programming in the IP format. He said it’s tough to predict because the number will keep increasing each year. “We need enough,” he said. “It’s going to change. … You have to continue to move forward.”
"You do have to look at it over time,” agreed Mike Hayashi, Time Warner Cable executive vice president of architecture, development and engineering. The number of channels might also change because of the type of devices served. He noted that operators could always adapt by changing how they allocate their spectrum. The debate over the number of channels needed is critical because all five panelists said cable will eventually move all of its managed video services to IP as the industry’s channel-bonding capabilities grow. Using the newest DOCSIS 3.0 modems, cable operators can now bond up to eight downstream channels together. Modem chipmakers are just beginning to dabble with the ability to bond 16 downstream channels. The cable industry’s IP video drive is also tied into its broader TV Everywhere push, designed to stave off competitive threats from such over-the-top video providers as Netflix and Hulu.
None of the speakers would predict when cable operators might start feeding IP video regularly to retail devices like the Sony PlayStation 3 and Internet-connected TVs. They agreed that operators are clearly moving down that path. “We're already on that trajectory with Xfinity,” Reynolds said, citing the Comcast multi-screen service that’s now piping authenticated VOD content to PCs. “We're already pushing video out to those IP endpoints,” he said. “Our goal is to take that and move it to as many places as the customer wants."
Rolls called for a more measured approach, arguing that cable should only target important CE devices that make the most sense, such as the Sony PlayStation. “Writing a client for every single device out there would be futile,” he said. “We're not going to be writing a client for every type of device out there. We'll use standards.”