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Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BillyG who wrote (34181)	7/7/1998 5:10:00 PM
From: Stoctrash	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 50808

"Perhaps the additional driver for upgrading cable systems is to make them two-way, which allows you to have interactive services, cable telephony, and cable modems." You're the man Billy!...but this upgrade won't be easy or fast. New coax or fibre will be needed in lots of places IMO. Think of all the "theft-of-service" they will nix once they start checking all those cable connections on the poles. Of course I never did this... but some unscrupulous poeple have tapped into cable systems just by climbing the pole and plugging in. Also think about how much those cables/connectors have degraded in quality since the 80's due to hot, cold and moisture?? I knew some guys that worked for the local cable guy and let me tell you there is no way those systems are even close to becoming digital pipes. Their sales guys came around my area a month ago and asked about interest in cable modems...."sorry it's just a survey"...man I had a woodie when I saw the brochure only to be pushed back another 6 months 12 months or more. I also told the guy my DirectTV picture was kick ASS...he said "yeah I know!!!" LOL I have a feeling this T/TCI deal is not all its cracked up to be. Call it "almost digital two way hype".

To: BillyG who wrote (34181)	7/7/1998 5:35:00 PM
From: Clarksterh	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 50808

Bill - Thanks. I'm a little surprised, especially since the cable industry is in the process of going digital anyway - to compete with DBS systems. The more I think about it, the more I think it is a credible explanation. For instance, the cable companies may only be able to get 4-1 greater bandwidth efficiency (because of the noise problems you describe), while broadcast gets 6-1; if both systems are equally saturated, then cable has a problem? In a somewhat similar vein, do you know of any studies of the link budgets for HDTV in current service areas? For instance, I would imagine that they will either have to replace most of their transmitters, or decrease the power out (to increase the linearity) and install extra repeaters. (As a side question, qualitatively, do you know how bad an analog signal has to look before a digital signal thru the same system is junk - I realize it depends on the kind of problem (non-linearity, multipath,...), but nonetheless, ...?) Clark