By Delbert H. Heller, Viacom Cablevision
The Home Terminal Unit (HTU), in its many varieties, has made possible the reception of a multitude of special cable-delivered programs to our subscribers. With the advent of Addressable HTUs, an entirely new approach to providing and controlling subscriber services is now available.
The additional complexity of the addressable system warrants a careful consideration of its total impact on cable system operations. The addressable product presents a new set of technical challenges, as well as inheriting some of the shortcomings of older generation HTUs.
Finally, there is on the horizon, the potential for greatly reducing the costs of addressable HTUs with the work being done on Cable Compatible Television Receivers by a joint EIA/NCTA Engineering Committee.