Reports from the FCC as well as our contacts at cable corporate and field offices indicate that the broadcasters DTV transition has been completed with a minimum of viewer disruption.  The Commission held a news conference on Saturday to say that most TV viewers weren’t affected when more than 900 full-power broadcast stations cut off their analog transmission before midnight Friday, effectively completing the long-awaited transition.  (You can read the Commission’s news release at http://www.fcc.gov/DOC-291384A1.pdf.)

Cable’s DTV “war room” operation has been under way since Thursday, featuring daily conference calls with more than 100 cable executives around the country, constant electronic communications with those executives, daily conference calls with FCC officials, and regular communications with representatives of the broadcasting and consumer electronics industries.  All of these outreach efforts turned up remarkably few problems.

Broadcast stations in a handful of markets had lost their digital signal, or were forced to reduce the power of their new digital transmission.  As we reported on Friday, this created some challenges for cable engineers in those markets who had to work hard to obtain and keep those signals up and running on cable systems.  As of the time of this writing, a very small number of broadcast stations are still having transmission problems, meaning that some of them can’t be carried by cable systems until the problems are fixed.  In all of those cases, broadcasting and cable engineers are collaborating closely to ensure continued cable carriage of the signals.  And the vast majority of issues that arose over the weekend were resolved within a matter of hours.

As far as we can tell, cable customer care has been largely unaffected by the transition as well.  A few cable call centers reported small “spikes” in call volumes this weekend at times when broadcast transmissions may have failed.  But as broadcast signals have been restored in most of those areas, call volumes have returned to normal.

We’re continuing to work with the FCC and to keep a close eye on all developments.  We’d appreciate knowing of any issues you’ve come across…or hearing any comment you might have about the course of the broadcasters’ DTV transition.

When the first group of 600+ over the air stations made the transition from analog to digital broadcast in February, their transition was met with relatively few, and entirely manageable complaints.

In exactly one week, the rest of the nation’s full power, OTA stations will make complete the transition, capping an effort that began many years ago.  The transition has not been without its challenges, but it represents the culmination of a lot of hard work by broadcasters, consumer electronics companies, subscription television services, and government at every level.  Cable, for its part, has contributed hundreds of millions in advertising to educate consumers on about the transition and so they will continue receiving signals next week.

We have also coordinated efforts between cable engineers and MSTV – the group representing broadcast engineers – to limit any technical problems.  That effort began over a year ago and identified issues early on that might have impacted the transition.  When the first stations moved from analog to digital in February, NCTA Science & Technology office  staffed a “war room” to give cable engineers an opportunity to report on activities in the field. We exchanged information with MSTV to address issues as they arose and in virtually all of such cases, the impact on cable carriage of the broadcast signal in question was minimal, with any problems being resolved in a matter of hours.

In addition, as Kyle McSlarrow noted Wednesday in his remarks before the FCC, cable also initially organized the DTV call center operation and contributed significant sums in cash grants to community groups to educate their constituents or assist them.  In addition, we placed tens of thousands of dollars in advertisements to reach at-risk groups with information.

Cable has gone beyond the call to ensure every American, not just our customers, is aware of, and is ready for transition.  We did this because we realize the transition is an important milestone for our country and we want it to be a success.  Our industry has worked tirelessly and with every level of government to guarantee that next week’s switch goes as smoothly as possible.

Should you, or anyone you know have questions or concerns about the switch, call 1-888-CALLFCC (1-888-225-5322).  The DTV hotline will be able to assist you.

Regular readers of Cable Tech Talk may remember an exchange between Verizon’s Tom Tauke and NCTA’s Kyle McSlarrow that took place last June.  At issue was an FCC decision into allegations that Verizon had violated retention marketing restrictions and actively tried to prevent customers from leaving only after the customer had put in a request to terminate their service and move their number to cable.

The phone company maintains custody of the number you own. When Verizon gets a request to terminate service and transfer your number, they have four days in which they must comply.  This is known as the porting interval.  Our argument then, as now, was simple.  Verizon has every right to offer its customers whatever package it sees fit to offer 361 days out of the year.  They should not, however, be allowed to use advance notice of customer defection as leverage against their competitors.

The FCC agreed, and found that Verizon had been improperly using the porting interval for the purposes of retention marketing.  Verizon, unhappy with the FCC’s decision, filed suit in the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in an attempt to get the FCC decision overturned.

Today, the court reaffirmed the FCC decision that Verizon was violating federal privacy rights by illegally using the number porting window for last gasp offers.

The ruling is a boost for consumers who are already saving billions of dollars each year because they have switched to cable’s digital phone service.

Once you have decided to leave a provider, they should not impede your ability to do so.  This decision is good for competition and will ensure consumers can change local telephone providers without undue harassment by the incumbent provider. NCTA also favors reducing the porting interval to two days to further expedite consumer requests.

For our part, we look forward to the continued competition for your telephone business.

On Thursday, NCTA responded to the Senate Commerce Committee in regards to a Consumers Union complaint about cable’s migration to a digital platform. The CU has questioned the impact of our migration on the simultaneously occurring digital transition for broadcast signals. In the letter, we sought to specifically address the Consumers Union allegations that our migration is an attempt to surreptitiously game the broadcast transition to fleece our customers.

My co-author Paul has written repeatedly on the distinction between cable’s migration to a digital platform and the broadcasters’ transition to digital broadcast. While the two share one common element – the movement from increasingly obsolete technologies to delivery methods that greatly increase consumer value – they are two completely different events.

You can refresh your understanding of the differences between the two by reviewing any of the following posts.

• Clearing up the DTV Transition
• The two digital transitions
• Separating the two transitions
• Once more – there are two transitions…
• More DTV Confusion

Without dwelling on the point, cable’s migration away from an analog platform to digital began years ago, in the mid 1990’s. Since 1996, cable has spent $130 billion dollars to create a robust platform not only for digital delivery of video, but to also provide valuable services like high-speed Internet and telephone service. We have been upfront about our plans to migrate our delivery to digital and the fact that 60 percent of cable customers now have digital is a pretty good indication that consumers also like it.

Cable operators could have simply set a date, contacted their customers and said, “On this date, you’ll need a box. If you don’t have one, you won’t get cable.”  Instead, we took a gradual, phased approach to the upgrade in an effort to cause minimal disturbance to our customers.  We recognize that no matter how carefully we manage the switch to digital some customers will be inconvenienced. Even a gradual shift to this new technology will cause some disruption.  However, the industry has done all it can to be upfront about the process, and to ensure that the unfortunate overlap of our ongoing migration and the rapid shift in broadcast technologies do not harm our customers.

Many of the complaints about our move from analog to digital center around the fact that customers will be required to obtain a set-top box, while they do not currently need one. This is true.  Note that all of cable’s competitors – satellite video services, Verizon, etc. – run on all-digital platforms and require every subscriber to obtain a set-top box.  By contrast, many cable companies plan on retaining at least some analog services.  No box will be needed to receive those services.

In contrast to cable’s digital migration, the DTV switch will occur on a flash-cut basis on set date, February 18, 2009.  The DTV transition was handled that way out of necessity – needing to free spectrum for emergency services and others – there has been a fair amount of confusion and fear of possible disruption. We have worked tirelessly to minimize the effects of that rapid change on consumers. We joined with the National Association of Broadcasters, the Consumer Electronics Association and a host of other organizations to educate consumers. We have aired public service announcements valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, and used many other tactics to help ensure that the American people are not inconvenienced by the cut over from analog to digital broadcasts.

The fact that a hard date was set for the DTV transition just as cable’s migration began accelerating does not mean that the two events are related.

Like the DTV shift, however, ours is also being done out of necessity. Our companies have millions of customers who are looking for faster Internet, less expensive phone service, increased hi-def viewing options, and more video-on-demand content. To meet that demand, it is critical for cable operators to free up the space consumed by analog channels.

Technologies like DOCSIS 3.0 – cable’s wideband Internet service – make use of the freed analog space. For example, for every four analog channels, DOCSIS 3.0 channel bonding can deliver 160 mbps – typically 10-50 times faster than current cable Internet service. In video terms, for every channel delivered in analog, cable operators can deliver 6 digital channels.

Analog channels, viewed through that lens, end up costing cable operators more in terms of lost opportunities for other services. They become more expensive to maintain, and that expense increases rapidly.

Think about it this way. Horse-drawn carriages were once a popular method of getting around. As people adapted to the new technology of automobiles, things began to change. Different types of road construction may have increased wear on parts. Parts for the old buggies may have been harder to obtain, or more expensive. The technology simply outpaced many consumers who were loyal to what they knew.

This migration is no different.

Today’s telecommunications platform requires hardware to connect. The cable industry (through CableLabs) has worked with the consumer electronics industry to develop technology to allow you to connect to digital service without a STB – first with the one-way Digital Cable Ready sets and now the interactive tru2way televisions. The first sets with this technology are already for sale in Denver and Chicago.  We are confident that consumers will find tremendous value in the digital services you will be able to get using these devices.

While there will, as mentioned, be some customers who are inconvenienced during our migration, cable has done all it can to keep the number impacted, and the disruption they experience, to an absolute minimum. Cable continues to feel the pressure of competition from both satellite and the phone companies. Our customers have choices, and we do not take that for granted. We work every day to provide great products with great value, and strive to keep every customer happy.

While I typically stick to discussions of policy issues, broadband, and emerging technology, when I see some really good news about cable and our ongoing efforts to improve customer service, I have to talk about it.

Recently JD Power and Associates released their annual rankings of customer satisfaction with both local and long distance telephone service.  The rankings measure five factors to determine overall satisfaction.

• Customer service
• Performance and reliability
• Cost of service
• Billing
• Offerings and promotions

For the the second year, cable companies won all four regions. The latest study proves what we’ve said for some time – cable is your best value for telephone service. You can learn more about cable telephony here.