Laserfiche WebLink
TECHNICAL OVERVIEW <br />TIME WARNER CABLEVISION - SANTA ANA <br />1. INTRODUCTION <br />The franchise to provide cable television to the residents of Santa Ana grants the <br />City the authority to conduct tests determining whether the franchisee is meeting <br />minimum technical requirements. These requirements are covered in Section <br />5.10 of the agreement. Santa Ana has been conducting tests of the cable <br />system on an annual basis since 1983. <br />In 1992, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted new rules <br />governing the method and frequency of cable television technical testing. Under <br />the new rules, cable systems with at least 1,000 cable subscribers are required <br />to conduct self -tests of its cable system twice per year to demonstrate <br />compliance to the signal quality rules. The FCC tests are comparable to those <br />required under the cable television franchise, and provide information regarding <br />picture quality (snow, herringbones, bars, etc.). The FCC rules require the cable <br />operator to conduct complete system tests at least twice annually (at intervals not <br />to exceed seven months) at test points representative of the entire geographic <br />area (at least a third being at the longest end of system cascades). <br />Previously Time Warner requested, and the City agreed, that the 1994 and <br />subsequent technical tests would follow the procedures set forth by the 1992 <br />Federal Communications Commission (FCC) related to methods and <br />requirements for conducting proof of performance tests of cable systems. The <br />FCC rules state that systems between the size of 12,500 and 25,000 subscribers <br />must test at least seven test points. Time Warner currently has re designed their <br />distribution methodology which relocated their Headend facility to La Mirada, Ca <br />to centralize the Headend to feed multiple Time Warner Southern California <br />cable systems from one Headend facility. This clustering technique affords Time <br />Warner the recalculation of test points that reduces the number of test points for <br />Santa Ana from seven to five with an additional number of channels tested from <br />nine to ten. The rules also require that the tests be performed in the coldest and <br />warmest periods of the year. <br />Communications Support Group, VP RPT2008.001 Page 1 <br />