• by Wayne Friedman , August 15, 2007

It's the ultimate high-tech traffic jam.

The crunch in adding new high-end TV services, such as HDTV, online gaming and VOD, is creating massive broadband problems for the cable industry, according to one New York-based Research Company.

ABI Research says cable operators only have limited shelf space in trying to sate consumers with a growing array of new technologies. "[It's] like the thrifty grocer who tried to cram ten pounds of potatoes into a five-pound bag," said Vice President and Research Director Stan Schatt, in a release.

The research company says the crunch will reach a crisis soon, and that it's a dirty little secret that cable would rather not talk about. But ABI also predicts the cable industry will spend some $80 billion over the five years to solve the problem.

The concern is the limited nature of 750 MHz analog systems that are the basis for most cable systems. A number of cable operators have already looked into spectrum upgrades to 1 GHz, a switch to digital video, and other improvements.

The study notes that more of these efforts will come into play in the next several years.