July 26, 2010

HITS, Evolution Digital and Conax Partner for Customer Premise Equipment

HITS, a business unit of the Comcast Media Center (CMC), has launched HITS Central, a centralized headend management solution for cable system operators.  HITS Central allows cable operators to deploy a wide array of customer premises equipment (CPE) without operating multiple conditional access (CA) management systems.

The CMC recently entered a relationship with Evolution Digital, a supplier of digital solutions for bandwidth reclamation and next-generation set-top boxes. The relationship enables HITS Central to support Evolution’s SD and HD digital-to-analog (DTA) converters as well as devices using CableCARDs with Conax DVB-CA (Digital Video Broadcast Conditional Access) encryption systems. HITS Central affiliates will also be able to deploy devices that use different encryption technologies.

“This new partnership between Evolution Digital, Conax and CMC provides operators with an open standard conditional access platform that supports multiple set-tops,” said Brent Smith, President of Evolution Digital, in a statement.

Campus Televideo, a provider of private cable television services to college and university campuses, will be the first cable system operator to deploy HITS Central services using Evolution Digital HD DTAs with integrated Conax CA on its cable plant.  Beginning with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, NY, Campus Televideo will offer low-cost HD video services using Evolution HD DTAs to universities looking for a subscription-based solution.