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Cracks Emerge in the Moto-Cisco Duopoly

By Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Light Reading Cable | Mon, 26 Jul 2010

The Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT)/Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) set-top and security duopoly in the US isn't sinking, but a new digital video platform from Comcast Media Center (CMC) and Evolution Broadband LLC certainly has the looks of a shot across the bow.

On Monday, on cue with this week's The Independent Show in Baltimore, CMC introduced HITS Central, a new headed management system generally targeted to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cable operators. As designed, HITS Central will offer operators a broader choice of set-top box and conditional access options, but the first partners are Evolution and its exclusive US security partner, Conax AS . (See Evolution, Conax Sign Exclusive Deal and Comcast Centralizes HITS.)

And they already have a taker: Campus Televideo, a company that provides "private" cable services on about 220 campuses nationwide, will start offering the combo at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., this fall.

The resulting service will use Evolution-made high-definition Digital Terminal Adapter (DTA) boxes that integrate Conax's conditional access system. Because it's private, the cable system in Troy isn't encumbered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) separable security rules that took effect in July 2007. However, the FCC is considering an exemption that would allow all cable MSOs to deploy HD-DTAs with integrated security. (See FCC Floats 'Simple' Gateway, CableCARD Rules .)

Evolution Digital president Brent Smith says the HITS Central offering represents the first time US cable operators can pursue a digital video broadcast (DVB)-based option (popular in Europe) for their all-digital plans. Plus, it allows them to use a much broader array of potential set-top suppliers than they can get from traditional cable suppliers like Motorola and Cisco.

To read the full article, click here.