Pace Begins DCA Whisper Campaign

Cable World, June 2, 2003

Byline: ANTHONY CRUPI

As MSOs warm up to the idea of provisioning fully digital networks, conventional wisdom holds that they'll have to turn to cheap, no-frills set-top boxes in order to nudge the most recalcitrant customers away from analog. Trouble is, there are millions of Americans who will never switch to digital, no matter how it's pitched.

Short of rounding up these technological troglodytes and shipping them off to Guantanamo, there's no quick solution to this dilemma.

Or is there?

Pace Micro Technology Americas has begun making noise about an inexpensive Digital Cable Adapter (DCA) that it claims "will help make the 'all digital' dream a reality for cable operators."

Unfortunately, that's about all Pace will say for the time being. A company mouthpiece begged off on providing further comment on the DCA, saying that Pace would reveal all at next week's NCTA show.

Some basic facts were brought to light in a Pace press release, however. The text of the statement confirms that the adapter is an inexpensive module designed to convert digital signals back into analog, thereby freeing up available bandwidth, which can then be used "to offer new services and create new revenue paths." In other words, once the last stragglers are let out of the gate, the ops will be free to offer bandwidth-chewing advanced services to their digital customers, while keeping the revenues from their Luddite subs in their coffers.

Yankee Group analyst Adi Kishore hasn't yet seen the DCA himself, but offered a few educated assumptions, based on some handy metrics and a little common sense. "It would have to be under $50 in order to meet with any measure of success," Kishore said. "It has to be inexpensive enough so the operators can afford to stick it in every analog home."

As with all other details, Pace would not reveal the pricing model for the DCA.

While a small, easily deployed module could potentially save ops millions on truck rolls, Kishore cautioned that the task of educating consumers on the value of the gadget may not be a simple proposition for a system head.

"You can't push this down the customer's throat," Kishore said. "At some point, they may say 'to hell with it' and call DirecTV."

THE NEXT QUESTION:

*Will the expenditures that come with a full digital upgrade hasten cable's consolidation?