By Raymond F. St. Louis, Blonder-Tongue Laboratories
Much has been done by the CATV industry to assure that CATV subscribers receive high-quality TV signals and that they receive more channels than there is worth-while programming to fill. However, little has been done to assure the subscriber that be will not be entirely without TV signal due to equipment failure.
CATV equipment seemingly prefers to fail during the hours of 5 P.M. and 1 A.M. This is annoying to the subscriber and the system maintenance personnel, alike. While the subscriber waits patiently or impatiently -- for the programming to be restored, the system maintenance personnel must respond to these emergencies at a time that can be most undesirable.
These situations could be avoided if the CATV system was self-sustaining through the use of automatic backup equipment, enabling the system to continue operation without interruption, even though an equipment failure has occurred.