hi Larry, looks there are a few people reading your post.
I have SFA in my long-term account, so I don't pay too much attention to daily price changes. Company is well positioned in a growing market. Still cheap, IMHO, at $35.
HBO'S HDTV SIGNAL NOW AVAILABLE IN TIME WARNER'S TAMPA CABLE System Using Scientific-Atlanta Equipment
PR Wire
May 4, 1999, 11:52 a.m. PT
- First Transmission of an HDTV Signal Using 256 QAM Technology -
STAMFORD, Conn. and ATLANTA, May 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Time Warner Cable has
successfully tested distribution of the High Definition TV feed from Home Box
Office and will soon begin delivering it in the upgraded areas of its Tampa,
Florida cable operation using equipment from Scientific-Atlanta, Inc.
(NYSE: SFA).
This marks the first time HBO's HDTV signal has been made available to
cable customers through an advanced form of signal modulation technology
(known as QAM) that allows two HDTV channels to be delivered in the same
bandwidth needed for one off-air HDTV channel. In extensive testing, the HBO
signal was delivered to an HDTV set in Tampa via Scientific-Atlanta's
Explorer(R) 2000HD set-top. Time Warner Cable will purchase an undisclosed
number of Explorer 2000HDs to enable customers in a growing number of its
upgraded systems to receive these signals if they purchase HDTV sets.
Scientific-Atlanta's industry-leading Explorer 2000 set-top is the
platform for the Explorer 2000HD model, the only set-top available that
enables delivery of HD signals on a conventional QAM-based cable system to
first-generation HDTVs. The Explorer 2000HD set-top enables owners of first-
generation HDTV's, which receive off-air, high-definition signals, to receive
high-definition programming via cable.
"Time Warner Cable is strongly committed to rolling out HDTV," said Jim
Chiddix, Chief Technical Officer of Time Warner Cable. "We will soon be able
to deliver HDTV programming by cable to our early-adopter subscribers who are
hungry to start viewing programs with the powerful reality enabled by this
exciting technology. Later this year, we'll start delivering HBO's HD
programming in Tampa Bay's upgraded areas and add other channels as they begin
broadcasting high-definition programs. We look forward to working with
Scientific-Atlanta to bring high-definition programming to our subscribers as
this breakthrough technology evolves."
"This is a significant milestone in the histories of the cable,
broadcasting, programming and consumer electronics industries," said Dr. Bill
Wall, Technical Director, Subscriber Networks for Scientific-Atlanta. "Our
work with Time Warner is a first step toward a new generation of advanced
digital television viewing. By the end of 1999, high definition television
sets and a new Explorer set-top model are expected to incorporate the IEEE
1394 'FireWire' standard that makes newer HDTVs directly compatible with
cable."
With about 800,000 subscribers, Tampa Bay is Time Warner's second largest
system. With digital services now launched in Tampa, subscribers there are
among the first to experience digital services over Time Warner's Pegasus
system, which is based on the advanced technology of Scientific-Atlanta's
digital interactive network.
Time Warner Cable and Scientific-Atlanta have long collaborated on
developing the key components of a two-way, digital broadband network.
Scientific-Atlanta is the primary network integrator and supplier of network
equipment and digital set-tops for Time Warner Cable's Pegasus program, which
is designed to bring next-generation digital video, audio and data services to
cable customers. The two companies pioneered much of the technology that led
to the OpenCable specifications for an open, fully interoperable advanced
digital network. Scientific-Atlanta is changing the way consumers interact
with their televisions through its award-winning Explorer 2000 set-top and
end-to-end digital interactive network.
Third-party developers can create new applications for the OpenCable-
compliant Explorer set-top through Scientific-Atlanta's CreativEdge(TM)
Developers' Program. Development of new applications is further facilitated
by the Explorer set-top's versatile PowerTV(R) operating system and wide range
of interface options, including PersonalJava, HTML and JavaScript.
To date, 17 cable operators in the U.S. and Canada have committed to
deploy Scientific-Atlanta's digital interactive system. One hundred systems
have been shipped to date, seventy-nine to customer sites and an additional
21 systems to partners and developers. Sixty-four systems have been fully
installed at customer sites. Twenty-nine systems have commercially launched
to paying customers compared to eight systems at the end of the last quarter.
Among those systems that have paying customers are some of the major sites in
the United States and Canada, including Adelphia Communications in Buffalo,
New York and Toms River, New Jersey; Charter Communications in Glendale,
California; Cox Communications in San Diego, California; Las Vegas, Nevada and
Phoenix, Arizona; Time Warner in Austin, Texas and Tampa, Florida; and
Videotron in Montreal.
Time Warner Cable owns and manages the world's most advanced, best-
clustered cable television operations, with 80 percent of its 12.9 million
customers in clusters of 100,000 subscribers or more. It is a division of
Time Warner Entertainment Company, L.P.
Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. (http://www.sciatl.com ) is a leading supplier of
broadband communications systems, satellite-based video, voice and data
communications networks, and worldwide customer service and support.
"Forward-looking statements," as defined in the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995, may be included in this news release. A
variety of factors could cause Scientific-Atlanta's actual results to differ
from the anticipated results expressed in such forward-looking statements.
Investors are referred to Scientific-Atlanta's Cautionary Statements (Exhibit
99 to the Company's most recent Form 10-Q), which statements are incorporated
into this news release by reference.
Explorer is a registered trademark of Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. PowerTV is
a registered trademark of PowerTV, Inc. All other products or brand names are
trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
SOURCE Scientific-Atlanta, Inc.
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