What could turn out to be a breakthrough technology for the cable industry is under development.
According to Gunther Diefes, Vice-President of D. & P. Manufacturing, this new technology,
scheduled for unveiling at an upcoming cable trade show, combines theft of services measures with instantaneous ratings capability.
"Cable operators have long complained that their offerings are
being woefully undercounted by the major TV ratings services,'' Diefes said. An off-premise switch allows for independent control and monitoring of every channel on the system.
"This gives a
cable operator a verifiable way to determine the number of subscribers watching any given program at any given time," Diefes explained.
"By being able to instantaneously determine the number or
percentage of households within a system watching a particular program at any given time, cable operators will have the data to support their claim for additional advertising dollars. The same
addressability feature will allow cable operators to stop theft of service immediately," he added.