Massillon DTV Shift Delayed
Bandwidth Reclamation Project Hits Snags But Ohio Cable Operator Cites Progress
by Kent Gibbons -- Multichannel News, 2/23/2009 6:47:21 PM
Charlotte, N.C. — Massillon Cable, an Ohio cable operator eager to convert analog channels to digital and add high-definition networks, needs more time to complete the conversion after some equipment setbacks, the company president said today.
"We did not make our deadline," company president Bob Gessner said during a panel discussion at National Cable Television Cooperative's winter education conference here Monday.
He cited "circumstances way outside of our control." 
Massillon had presented a plan to the Federal Communications Commission to complete a conversion to all digital channels by Feb. 17, which also was the original date for broadcast-TV channels to convert to digital.
The FCC gave Massillon a waiver from a requirement other cable operators faced to separate conditional-access security from set-top devices, a waiver that made the Massillon plan feasible because it reduced the cost of buying cheap converters that it would then supply customers.
Massillon selected digital-to-analog (DTA) converters from Evolution Broadband, with remotes from a vendor called Homecast. (For more about DTAs, sometimes called digital terminal adapters, and Massillon's vendor selections, click here.)
Gessner said the first setback was a delay in receiving the DTAs from a China-based manufacturer during the massive Beijing Olympics last summer.
"Nothing was moving in China for quite a few weeks in that July and August timeframe," he said.
Then in December it was discovered that a "sub-subcontractor" had supplied faulty power supplies to the devices, so Massillon and other operators using DTAs had to recall and replace them, Gessner said.
In Massillon's case, that meant recalling some 70,000 power supplies, "which we're just about finished with," he said.
Massillon has requested with the FCC an extension until July 31, Gessner said. That will give Massillon more time to market the availability of the DTA devices, of which Massillon is offering each of its 45,000 customer households three devices for free, he explained during and after a session at NCTC's winter education conference.
He also said that will provide time for a gradual shift of channels from analog to digital. And he said he wanted to distance the Massillion digital conversion from the June 12 date for broadcasters to convert, to avoid confusion between the two separate events.
Gessner said about 70% of Massillon subscribers had obtained DTA converters so far. Customers on average were ordering 2.5 boxes per home.
About 80% of customers were installing them on their own, and those that weren't typically were having something else done at the same time, so Massillon was deriving more business out of those truck rolls, he said.
There were some surprises to date. Even though 75% of customers who responded to an online survey said when they did the self-install it went easy, only 71% of those surveyed had actually done the install within a week. That's an indication that many subscribers will wait until the actual conversion occurs to do the install, so Massillon has to plan to have extra customer care and technicians on hand for that.
Also, Massillon might have expected an uptick in orders for advanced set-tops from customers requesting the free converter. That hasn't happened: "Customers aren't asking for a DVR and a DTA," he said.
And only 56% of customers in the online survey reported seeing improved picture quality after installing the DTA.
He said there were three possible explanations why: Massillon had been delivering high-quality analog pictures; the boxes were being attached to low-quality analog sets; or the viewers ordering the DTAs aren't that concerned about picture quality.
Once Massillon starts reclaiming analog channels, Gessner is eager to begin rapidly adding high-definition programming to compete against satellite-TV and other rivals.
"I want to load up 15-18 per week for the first three weeks," and have added 80 HD channels by early June, he said.
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