System Designs for the Dayton Metropolitan Area

Alternative cable system designs to cover the Dayton metropolitan area are considered. This area includes the city of Dayton, 12 other incorporated cities, and unincorporated areas scattered nearby, encompassing a total population of nearly 600000. At one extreme, the paper considers the prospects of each city having its own separate system. However, in contrast to present-day 12-channel one-way cable TV systems, the more advanced two-way technology of concern here involves high fixed costs that would be out of reach of most of the cities acting alone. In other words, there are substantial economies of scale in advanced cable technology that can be satisfactorily exploited only with a large subscriber base. Only two cities in the area, Dayton and Kettering, appear large enough to exploit these economies of scale.