WOW Rips Page From Comcast's Digital Playbook

WideOpenWest Holdings LLC (WOW) , a cable "overbuilder" that tangles with Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) in some markets, is about to enlist a tactic championed by its much larger competitor to help it free up capacity for more HD channels and new services like Docsis 3.0. (See WOW Gets D3 Ball Rolling.)

Instead of going with a more complicated endeavor like switched digital video (SDV), WOW plans to reclaim valuable analog spectrum using a new breed of "universal" Digital Terminal Adapter (DTA) devices from Evolution Digital LLC powered by Broadcom Corp. (Nasdaq: BRCM) chipsets that can work on digital cable networks based on the Motorola Mobility Inc. (NYSE: MMI) or Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) platform. (See WOW Takes the DTA Plunge.)

In this instance, WOW will be using the one-way, standard-definition TV DTAs in Cisco-mode.

Denver-based WOW, which already has Docsis 3.0 upgrades underway, expects to start deploying DTAs later this month. It competes primarily with Comcast in Chicago and Detroit; Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) in Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio; and with Insight Communications Co. Inc. in Evansville, Ind.

WOW currently offers about 40 linear HD channels and expects to add about 50 more in each market as it goes through its analog reclamation exercise, an MSO spokeswoman noted. The company plans to launch new higher-speed HSD tiers later this year, she added.