The Hidden Costs of 400 MHz

The cable television industry (CATV) has experienced the unpleasant consequences of premature application of new technological developments. Expanded channel capacity by means of increased bandwidth is now being promised in many major market franchise proposals. There is no reason to suggest that 400 MHz systems carrying up to 54 channel will not eventually work; but there is good reason to expect unanticipated inconvenient and costly technical and operational problems with new equipment that has never been field tested with 50 or more channels under actual operating conditions. The "horsepower race" toward larger and larger channel carriage capability should be replaced with sophisticated efforts to improve the efficiency of utilization of existing capacity, the technical quality of the signals carried, and the content of the programs transmitted.