An analysis of the technical and economic essentials for providing video over fiber-to-the-premises networks

Abstract

This paper presents a cost comparison of two video transport methodologies on a passive optical network (PON): an out-of-band radio frequency (RF) video overlay and in-band video delivered as multicast Internet Protocol (IP) packets. The RF overlay approach has traditionally been favored for video transmission on a PON due to the availability of cable television (CATV)-like components, including CATV-ready televisions, but recently the lower network costs associated with converging voice, data, and video on an all-packet network (so called “Internet Protocol television” [IPTV]) have begun to be recognized. We have quantified the full cost of the RF video overlay, taking into account all the physical parameters that affect the cost of such deployments, allowing an accurate evaluation of the economics of this system under a variety of configurations. Our IP video model estimates the cost of a multicast IP video network, using analysis of viewer data to estimate the actual bandwidth requirements in real-world IPTV deployments. Using these models we compare the cost of RF video overlay and IP video technology for fiber to the premises (FTTP). We show that the choice of the lowest-cost video solution is sensitive to take-rate and channel lineup in particular, but that IPTV is the lowest-cost solution under the majority of likely deployment circumstances.