Coda
by Staff -- Multichannel News, 2/16/2009 2:00:00 AM
Cox Starts Throttling Test
Atlanta — Cox Communications last week began a single-market test of a congestion-management system designed to temporarily delay “non-time-sensitive” applications — but only in the upstream direction — during times when the network is exceptionally busy.
Jay Rolls, Cox senior vice president of technology, said the MSO currently has no plans to throttle downstream traffic.
“We only really have to battle this on the upstream,” he said in an interview. For downstream traffic, “it's my opinion that DOCSIS 3.0 will make that a non-issue as we bond downstream channels” and increase overall per-node bandwidth capacity.
The operator is conducting the test in its Kansas-Arkansas system, which serves 447,800 basic video subscribers. (The company does not disclose broadband subscribers by market.) Rolls declined to identify the vendor Cox is using in the test.
The system, Rolls emphasized, takes action only when upstream capacity becomes constrained. Asked how frequently the network gets clogged, he would say only that it's an “unusual” occurrence.
“One of the things we hope to get out of the test is put a typical number to that, but [a congested network is] more unusual than the norm,” he said.
The automated system works like a traffic signal that regulates the pace of cars as they merge onto a highway, Rolls said. When the network is at or near full utilization, time-sensitive Internet traffic like Web pages, voice calls, streaming video and online gaming will have priority over less time-sensitive traffic, such as file uploads and peer-to-peer file sharing.
Rolls said the test will probably take four to six weeks to return initial results, assuming the proper data is being collected from the equipment. “We may get into this and find out we may not be able to measure this properly,” he said.
— Todd Spangler
Canoe Hires Data Mine
New York— Canoe Ventures, the advanced-advertising initiative formed by the six biggest U.S. cable operators, has hired former Capital One executive Mike Eason as senior vice president and chief data officer.
At Canoe, Eason will be responsible for managing the company's data and analytics products and initiatives, according to Dana Runnells, senior director of marketing communications.
Eason, who officially started with Canoe in January, was previously a vice president at credit-card issuer Capital One where he led the development of a 70-Terabyte data warehouse that supports marketing, servicing, account management, analytics and reporting. Prior to joining Capital One in 1998, Eason worked at consulting firm Ernst & Young.
Canoe was formed last year by Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Cablevision Systems, Charter Communications and Bright House Networks. The company's charter is to provide interactive TV features, addressable ads and data across multiple markets and operators.
The venture is in the earliest stages of building a massive, centralized database infrastructure to collect set-top box data from its member MSOs. Canoe CEO David Verklin has said the company expects in the near future to provide viewing metrics for 32 million U.S. cable households, representing about 57 million set-top boxes. — Todd Spangler
BET Earns Six Vision Noms
New York — Black Entertainment Television notched a cable network-high six 2009 NAMIC Vision Awards nominations, the diversity-oriented organization said last week.
CNN, HBO and TBS earned five nominations each and ABC Studios garnered four nods in the first year of broadcast network eligibility for the Vision Awards, which honors achievements in television programming diversity.
TBS's Tyler Perry's House of Payne drew four out of five nods in the best performance comedy category, as well as a nomination for best comedy.
That show last week picked up four NAACP Image Awards, including one for top comedy series. Payne star LaVan Davis won best comedy actress. — R. Thomas Umstead
Univision CMO Exits
New York — Maryam Banikarim has resigned from her post as chief marketing officer of Univision Communications. Her position will not be filled.
Banikarim, whose last day at Univision was Feb. 11, confirmed her exit, but declined to give details.
Banikarim joined Univision in 2002, where she oversaw marketing activities across Univision's areas of operation. She was recently named a 2009 “Woman to Watch” by the editors of Multichannel News. — Laura Martinez
Golf Sinks LPGA Deal
New York — Teeing off next year, Golf Channel will become the exclusive cable home of the LPGA Tour.
The parties, on the eve of the 2009 season's first tournament, the SBS Open at Turtle Bay, from Kahuku, Oahu, in Hawaii, announced that they had reached a 10-year pact.
Golf now is the cable or exclusive U.S. home to all of the sport's major tours. — Mike Reynolds
Canoe Hires Schaffer As Head Of Finance
07/02/2009People
10/25/2009Canoe Hires Eason As Chief Data Officer
02/10/2009Face2Face
02/29/2008Canoe In Talks To Deliver Data
06/07/2009
