2006. 6.13

Current Major Issues on Digital Cable TV

Dr. Ki Hyun Sung

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Current StatusⅠ

What’re Problems?Ⅱ

Agenda

How to Overcome?Ⅲ

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Current Status of Digital CATV

• Why Digital?– To have competitiveness

• Telco’s IPTV, DTT’s MMS, Skylife’s SMATV, Telco & EE’s TV Portals, PCs (Intel’s ViiV),…

• War to have a home gateway

– To satisfy our customers’ needs and requirements• Internet, Mobile users Kool Kids & Gadgetiers• However, still massive passive markets

– To recover Pay TV markets back to normal • Circumvented and abnormal market with world class low

ARPU

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Current Status of Digital CATV

• How Digital?– Over 1 years after the commercial digital

CATV services• But, only cross more than 100K digital subs• Value added services such as VoD, Interactive

data services just minimal.

– TPS not yet no bundling effects– Slower and lower than expected.

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Current Status of Digital CATV

• What’re problems?– Commercial

• Subscription fee: So high compared to analog TV• Channel tiers of Analog TV: no contents difference no incentive for

digital TV• Usability and Adaptability (passive vs. active)• Marketing Capability (analog vs. digital)• High STB costs (M/W, CAS, CableCard, Interactive Svcs..)

– Technical• Stability: STB, CableCard, Access network,• Picture quality: High expectation, but not much better than analog TV.

back to the past. • Complexity: remote controller, UI, EPG, navigation menu… only cha

nnel zapping

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• Network Quality for Two Way Services

• Technical Support/ Installation

What’re Problems?

Analog TV

Subscribers

Digital System

Networks

• Low Subscription Fee• Too many Channels• Relatively Good Picture

• Perception of TVTV is free like utilityLean Back (passive)

• No incentive for Digital

SOs• Paradigm Shift

Strategy/Marketing Human Resources….

• Investment Costs • High STB costs (CableCard, M/W ,..)

• Stability (CableCard, STB, Applications..)

• Complex UI/Navigation: Usability

Technical

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Ways to Overcome Problems

Picture Quality

Usability

Network Quality

STB Costs/Stability

SD to HD

Simple/Easy UI & Navigation

Flawless Maintenance

CableCard,….

Problems Solutions

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CableCard

• Idea of CableCard is still good for retail markets for STBs. However, some issues are against operators and DCAS is developing for the replacement.

• Economic Issues– High STB Costs: more than $30 including a Cablecard & its related costs

• Lower STBs for mass deployment & proliferation of digital CATV• Comcast: about $50 STB, UPC: below €100(M/W, CAS) for D4A(digital for all)

– High Maintenance Costs: A/S calls & Replacements

• Technical Issues– Long Channel Tuning Time– High Temperature– M-Card Development

• USA MSO’s Strong Direction/Will to DCAS

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SD to HD (High Def.)• Why HD?

– Among others, the best weapon to IPTV, Skylife, and DTT’s MMS.

– Superior picture quality incentive to subscriber (no turning back to analog or SD)

• Problems?– Bandwidth Hogs: analog TV tiers, 64QAM 256QAM (n

etwork sensitive), frequency allocation, MPEG2 and/or MPEG4

– High STB costs (1.5 times of SD STB) – HD contents

• To be or not to be?

IPTV, MMS, Sky

life

HD