By Gregg Haskin
In a Valley Reporter article from September, I wrote of some of
the struggles we were having in converting Waitsfield Cable from an
analog to all-digital system. In addition, I discussed the logistical
nightmare of exchanging over 8,000 set-top boxes and the sometimes
quirky challenges we faced obtaining programming.
While I'd like to tell you that things have calmed down by now, I
cannot. Please allow me the opportunity to explain some of our
frustrations, explain some technical reasons for the various outages
some customers are experiencing and our plans to correct these issues
going forward.
Prior to our all-digital conversion, Waitsfield Cable provided service
in both an analog and digital format distributed through an entirely
coaxial network. Whenever analog signal levels dropped enough due to
one or more possible causes (weather, snow on our receiving dishes,
distribution amplifiers out of adjustment, possible customer site
cabling issues, re-transmission equipment issues to name a few) the
customer would see a picture of grainy or snowy quality. Although not
ideal, the picture and audio would still come through.
After the recent conversion to digital, Waitsfield Cable's network is
an all-digital design utilizing a combination of coaxial and
fiber-optic cables for a large portion of the network. Signal issues
now occur in different ways, as the system is much more sensitive to
negative influences.
"Tiling," a term used in the industry to describe the tiny squares that
randomly appear, occurs when a signal is not sufficient to display a
clear picture. Freezing, loss of picture (black screens) and choppy
audio are other common traits of this issue. With the signal being in a
digital format, the TV picture either works or it doesn't.
Another technical issue that I'd like to explain is that of content
aggregation and encryption, set-top box authorization, and channel
mapping. Essentially, we are at the mercy of a third-party provider for
programming content, encryption and their ability to efficiently manage
our "channel map."
A channel lineup is provided by Waitsfield Cable to this third party,
and they're responsible for "mapping" those channels to appear on our
set-top boxes in the correct locations, encrypting programming content,
and authorizing set-top boxes (which is required by the programmers and
set-top box manufacturers) to receive that content.
We have had nothing but problems working with this vendor and as of the
early-morning hours of December 18, Waitsfield Cable has converted to
an alternative provider for these services. We are confident that the
new provider will eliminate some of the outage-causing issues we've
been experiencing the last couple of months.
One final technical note concerns the condition of customer premise
cabling and connections. With the new all-digital service being much
more sensitive, it is important to diagnose any possible wiring and
connection problems at customer locations. If you continue to
experience loss of signal or audio, tiling or freezing, we would like
to check your cable TV wiring and connections to rule out that it is
not contributing to your issues.
I want to thank you for your continued patronage of Waitsfield Cable.
We understand your frustration and appreciate you hanging in there
during and after our transition to digital. We are not at all satisfied
with the current conditions and are working diligently to correct these
issues going forward. Please don't hesitate to contact us with any
remaining questions you may have. Please come by or call Waitsfield
Cable at 496-5800.
Gregg Haskin is the president and CEO of Waitsfield Cable.
