BigBand Networks Expanding Digital Television, HDTV for China's Zhongshan Cable

Operator in Guangdong Province Leverages BigBand’s “Headend-in-a-Box” to Expand Digital Video Services

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — BigBand Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBND), a leading innovator in video networking, today announced that Zhongshan Cable is deploying its Broadband Multimedia-Service Router (BMR®) to process, manage and deliver digital television services, including HDTV and video-on-demand (VOD). Zhongshan Cable serves approximately 300,000 subscribers in the city of the same name, among the larger urban centers in China’s Guangdong Province.

“We selected BigBand’s platform for its powerful bandwidth management capabilities and its ability to perform so many key video processing and delivery functions in a single platform,” said Mr. Zhuang Heng, the technical director of Zhongshan Cable. “When our deployment is complete we will be delivering more than 150 digital TV channels, including HDTV and VOD services.”

Zhongshan Cable is using the BMR as a digital “headend-in-a-box,” replete with a range of functionality designed to improve the video quality and bandwidth efficiency of the operator’s television services. One such function–BMR’s RateShaping™ capability–leverages advanced algorithms to allow Zhongshan to increase the amount of standard and high-definition digital video that can be delivered over its cable network without using additional bandwidth. The BMR also performs quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), scrambling and acquisition functions to allow video content acquired from satellites to be delivered over Zhongshan’s network with excellent picture quality.

“Zhongshan and other Chinese cable operators continue to move forward with advanced digital video services that will soon rival those offered anywhere in the world,” said Johnny Cheung, BigBand’s senior regional director of the Asia-Pacific region. “We look forward to continuing to introduce solutions that can expand the content and enhance the quality and user experience of video services in China.”