By Charles O. Eissler, Oak Communications, Inc
This paper presents a marketing oriented view of addressable control for cable systems. "Addressable control" deals with the ability of a cable system to deliver specific tiers of program material to specific subscribers.
With the spread of premium programming (pay TV) in the cable market, the CATV businessman is confronted with two problems. He must be able to deliver specific kinds of premium programs to subscribers who desire the service. Secondly, he must protect his investment in premium program material from theft. The techniques which will accomplish these two tasks are available today.
A key element in this system is a home terminal that has a unique and unchangeable identity. The terminal responds to commands from the headend. The terminal can be preauthorized to descramble programs that have a tag identity which corresponds to those tiers of programs that the subscriber has ordered.
A small computer stores all information which pertains to the addressable system. The preauthorization data is sent to each terminal during a global address of the system. A program tag identification is sent with the program itself. Addressable control also allows for future premium service requirements.