Buckeye Keeps Eye on Video Quality

Cable Operator Deploys Mixed Signals’ Sentry Software

By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, June 19, 2007

Orlando, Fla. -- Buckeye CableSystem deployed Mixed Signals’ video-monitoring system, which can identify transmission errors in video and audio in a digital-cable network.

The idea is to minimize customer complaints by rectifying digital-video issues proactively. Mixed Signals’ Sentry software monitors network-transport streams and analyzes data patterns to detect anomalies.

According to Buckeye director of engineering Jim Brown, Mixed Signals’ Sentry “will provide us with the information we need to ensure that our audio and video services meet [customer] expectations.”

Buckeye -- a member of the National Cable Television Cooperative, which serves 1,100 independent cable operators -- serves about 130,000 customers in and around Toledo, Ohio, and also operates Erie County Cablevision in Sandusky, Ohio, which has about 20,000 subscribers.

Mixed Signals CEO Eric Conley said Buckeye represents his firm’s first midsized-cable-operator customer.

“We’ve previously been deployed by several big MSOs,” he added. Two customers the company publicly disclosed are Cablevision Systems and Time Warner Cable’s Los Angeles system (formerly Adelphia Communications).