#### BROADBAND GLOSSARY

### 

### A

**Access:** The service provided by local exchange carriers or alternate
access providers, that enables a user to enter a circuit and connect
with an interexchange carrier.

**Access Channels:** Channels set aside by a cable operator for use by
third parties, including the public, educational institutions, local
governments, and commercial interests unaffiliated with the operator
(see also PEG and LEASED ACCESS).

**(ACD) Automatic Call Distributor:** A device that is able to
distribute incoming calls to a certain group of terminals.

**(A/D) Analog to Digital Converter:** A device that constantly converts
varying analog signals to digital signals.

**(ADI) Area of Dominant Influence:** A television market as delineated
by the Arbitron Company.

**Addressable:** Capable of being activated or accessed remotely by
signals sent from a cable system's headend (addressable usually refers
to descramblers and other set-top boxes).

**(ADSL) Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line:** A modem technology that
provides greater bandwidth from ordinary telephone lines. Asymmetrical
is able to provide faster one way speed connectivity between the central
office and the customer premises.

**Aerial Plant:** Cable that is suspended above ground on telephone or
utility poles.

**(AIN) Advanced Intelligent Network:** A network architecture that
allows major foreign and US telecommunications companies to direct
telephone calls based on activating points to the database used in
Signaling System 7 (SS7).

**Amplifier:** A device that boosts the strength of electronic signals.

**Analog:** A mechanism or method in which data is represented by
continuous variable physical quantities and that uses nondiscrete
variations in fre­quency, amplitude or location to carry sounds, signals,
mathematical data or other information.

**(ANI) Automatic Number Identification:** A function by which the
directory number of a calling unit is automatically obtained.

**(ARPA) Advanced Research Project Agency**: An agency of the U.S.
Depart­ment of Defense that funded the ARPANet as a research network.

**Aspect Ratio:** The ratio of a television screen's width to its height
(4:3 for NTSC, 16:9 for HDTV).

**(AT) Access Tandem:** A switching system that provides an
interexchange carrier with access to more than one end office.

**(ATM) Asynchronous Transfer Mode:** A high-speed multiplexing and
switching technique that uses fixed size of cells to support several
types of traffic such as voice, data and video.

**(ATV) Advanced Television:** A series of digital television
technologies that are designed to improve the current commercial-quality
television system.

### B

**Basic Cable:** Primary level or levels of cable service offered for
subscription. Basic cable offerings may include retransmitted broadcast
signals as well as local and access programming. In addition, regional
and national cable network programming may be provided. Basic service
offerings at the system level may be offered as more than one tier.

**Bipolar Signal:** A signal that can take on two polarities, of which
neither is zero.

**Box:** Electronic equipment used to process television signals in a
consumer's home, usually housed in a "box" that sits atop a TV set or
VCR. See also CONVERTER and DESCRAMBLER.

**(BPS) Bits Per Second:** Transmission rate for digital information
expressed as the number of bits (zeroes or ones) sent or received per
second.

**Broadband Communications System:** A network such as a cable system
capable of delivering multiple high capacity services simultaneously.

**(BS) Base Station:** A fixed land station in the land mobile service
that relays signals to and from mobile voice and data terminals or
handsets.

**(BSS) Business Support System:** A system that supports and manages
information of various telecommunication functions such as billing, data
warehousing, customer care, network management and account receivables.

**(BW) Bandwidth:** A measure of the capacity of a channel of
communications in the broadcast spectrum. A range of frequencies or the
amount of spectrum used to transmit pictures, sound, and data (In the
United States, the Federal Communications Commission has assigned
broadcast television channels a bandwidth of 6 megahertz).

**Bundling:** Combining goods and/or services into a single package,
often for a discounted price.

### C

**Cablecasting:** The use of cable systems by federal, state, and local
officials to disseminate information and television programming to their
constituents.

**Cable Modem:** A communication device connected to a personal computer
which offers customers access to the Internet over a cable system at
speeds 50-100 times faster than a telephone connection.

**Cable Ready:** Label for consumer electronic devices, such as
television sets and VCRs, that are designed to allow direct connection
to a cable television network.

**Cable System:** A localized communications network that distributes
television, Internet, and telephone services by means of coaxial cables
and/or fiber optics.

**(CABS) Carrier Access Billing System:** A software application also
known as Integrated Access Billing System (IABS), that enables local
exchange carriers (LECs) to measure minutes of use on access and thereby
be able to bill LECs for it.

**(CAP) Competitive Access Provider:** Companies that provide
connections to long distance providers while bypassing local telephone
companies.

**(CARS) Community Antenna Relay Service:** Microwave facilities used to
relay television, FM radio, and other signals from a cable television
headend to a reception site for distribution over cable.

**Cash Flow:** A measure often used in the cable industry to assess a
company's financial performance. Generally, cash flow is a company's
earnings before non-cash expenses, such as depreciation and
amortization, are taken into account.

**(CATV) Community Antenna TV:** Also known as Cable TV, it uses several
TV units connected by cable to a common antenna to serve a community.

**(CBR) Continuous Bit Rate:** A transmission rate that is uniform.

**(CCIS) Common Channel Interoffice Signaling:** The basis for
intelligent networks, it routes information to and from specialized
databases stored in the network carriers\' computers and uses a separate
data line to route interoffice signals, thereby providing a faster call
set-up.

**(CCITT) Consultative Committee International Telephony and
Telegraphy:**

Presently known as the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the
ITU sets and develops standards for telecommunications.

**(CDMA) Code Division Multiple Access:** A digital cellular
communications tech­nology used as a multiplexing and multiple access
technique in which multiple calls are individually coded for
transmission over one channel simultaneously.

**(CDPD) Cellular Digital Packet Data:** Developed by IBM as a way to
transmit short wireless data messages, such as credit card verification,
over cellular providers\' analog network.

**(CDR) Call Detail Record:** A system feature that tracks details about
calls, such as type, time, duration, originator and destination. CDRs
can be used for network monitoring, accounting and billing purposes.

**(CELP) Code Excited Linear Prediction:** An analog to digital speech
coding method that provides near toll quality audio by utilizing smaller
samples that are processed faster.

**Central Office:** A telecommunications facility (generally serving
10,000 telephone lines) where local calls are switched.

**(CENTREX) Central Exchange:** This is an exchange system run from the
central office that routes and switches calls for commercial and
non-profit organizations, while providing them with comparable services
provided by private branch exchanges.

**(CG) Character Generator:** Device that electronically displays
letters and numbers on the television screen.

**Channel Capacity:** Maximum number of television channels that a cable
system can carry simultaneously.

**(CLASS) Custom Local Area Signaling Services:** A number translation
service available within a Local Access and Transport Area (LATA).

**(CLEC) Competitive Local Exchange Carrier:** A company that has been
allowed to offer local telephone service, in competition with the
regional Bell companies.

**(CMIP) Common Management Information Protocol:** The protocol used in
order to manage remote systems through an application process that
interchanges information and commands.

**(Coax)Coaxial Cable:** A transmission line 1/4 to 1 inch thick with an
inner wire to conduct signals and an outer aluminum coating to act as a
ground. The two metal layers are separated by insulation and may be
wrapped in a protective plastic sheathing.

**(CODEC) Coder/Decoder:** A device that converts digital codes to
analog and vice versa.

**Collocation:** Placing a competitor's communications equipment in
one's own facilities to allow efficient interconnection of different
networks.

**Committed Information Rate:** The bandwidth committed by the carrier
for the port connection that is assigned to a permanent virtual circuit
in a frame relay network.

**Common Carrier:** A communications provider, such as a telephone
company, which offers its services to all members of the public for a
set fee (tariff). Common carriers are regulated by federal and state
agencies and exercise no control over the content of the messages they
carry.

**Compression:** A technique for reducing the number of bits that make
up a digital television signal and reducing the amount of bandwidth
required to carry it. By reducing the bandwidth necessary to carry
compressed digital signals, cable companies and others can greatly
increase the number of channels they offer to consumers.

**Compulsory License:** Statutory license (section 111 of the Copyright
Act) which allows cable and MMDS operators to retransmit, for a
prescribed fee, programming broadcast by television stations (see also
SHVA).

**Converter:** Device which increases the number of channels that a TV
set can receive by converting the large number of signals carried on a
cable or satellite system to a single channel tuned by the TV set, e.g.,
channel 3 or 4.

**(CPE) Customer Premise Equipment:** The equipment at the customer\'s
premises that connects with a carrier\'s communication network, such as
terminals and inside wiring.

**(CRIS) Customer Record Information System:** A system that is used to
maintain customers\' usage records for billing purposes by many local
exchange carriers (LECs).

**(CSMA/CD) Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection:** A
protocol by which all nodes attached to the network contend for access
and listen if another PC is transmitting. If not, it starts to transmit
or it waits to retransmit if it detects another station's jam signal.

**(CSR) Customer Service Record:** A detailed printout of a
subscriber\'s monthly equipment and service charges billed by the local
telephone company and uses corresponding USOC codes.

### D

**(DBS) Direct Broadcast Satellite:** A TV broadcast service from a
small satellite dish antenna that offers similar services, like that of
cable TV, and which transmits highly compressed digital signals.

**(DCS) Digital Crossconnect System:** A high-speed data channel switch
that in response to dialing instructions independent of the data
traveling through, switches transmission paths.

**(DDD) Direct Distance Dialing:** A switched service that allows for
whomever originates a call to directly place long-distance calls without
assistance.

**(DDS) Digital Data Service:** A synchronized digital service that
interconnects digital transmission centers.

**(DE) Discard Eligibility:** An indicator in a frame relay that
identifies which frames can be discarded in case of network congestion.

**Descrambler:** Electronic circuit that restores a scrambled video
signal to its original form. Television signals, especially those
transmitted by satellite, are often scrambled to protect against theft
and other unauthorized use.

**Dialing Parity:** The ability to reach a residential or business phone
by dialing the same number of digits no matter which company's network
is used.

**(DID) Direct Inward Dialing:** A feature that allows calls to the
ten-digit DID telephone number to reach that specific extension without
human interference.

**Digital:** An intelligence-carrying signal consisting of a stream of
bits of zeros and ones for sound, video, computer data or other
information.

**Digital Cable:** Cable services, programming, and equipment that use
digital, not analog, formats (see DTV and HDTV).

**Dish:** A parabolic antenna used to receive satellite transmissions at
home. The older "C band" dishes measure 7-12 feet in diameter, while the
newer "Ku band" dishes used to receive high-powered DBS services can be
as small as 18 inches in diameter.

**Distant Signal:** Television signal from another city that is imported
and carried locally by a cable television system.

**(DLC) Digital Loop Carrier:** The supplies and equipment that are used
for digital multiplexing of telephone circuits. This would include the
lines.

**(DLCI) Data Link Connection Indicator:** The number sequence that
identifies public data networks.

**(DMA) Designated Market Area:** A television market as delineated by
the A.C. Nielsen Company.

**(DMT) Discrete Multitone Technology:** A technology that uses digital
signals to transmit multiple signals over the present pair of copper
wiring.

**(DN) Directory Number:** A 10-digit number assigned by the local
telephone provider. Generally referred to as an individual's telephone
number.

**(DOCSIS) Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification:** The
leading standard for cable modems.

**(DOD) Department of Defense:** The United States federal agency
overseeing the military.

**Downstream:** Flow of signals from a cable system's headend through
its distribution network to a customer.

**(DQPSK) Differential Quadra Phase Shift Keying:** A phase modulation
technique used in modems to code relative changes of a carrier signal
phase in the transmitted waveform.

**Drop Cable:** The final stretch of coaxial cable that connects a
customer's home to the cable system.

**(DS-O) Digital Signal Level 0:** A classification of digital circuits
with a rate of transmission rate of 64 kb/s.

**(DS-1) Digital Signal Level 1:** The rate of transmission of a DS-1
(or T -1) is of 1 .544 Mb/s and 24 channels are associated with it.

**(DS-3) Digital Signal Level 3:** The rate of transmission of a DS-3
(or T -3) is of 44.736 Mb/s and is associated with 672 channels.

**(DSC) Digital Selective Calling:** A synchronous system that is used
to set up contact by radio with a station or group of stations.

**(DSP) Digital Signal Processors:** A special programmable device used
for digital signal processing by providing ultra-fast instruction
sequences.

**(DSU) Data Service Unit:** An apparatus used to link data terminal
equipment to the carrier\'s digital services, such as T -1.

**DTH (Direct-To-Home):** All satellite service providers, including
C-band and Ku band (DBS).

**(DTMF) Dual Tone Multi-Frequency:** A type of double-frequency audio
signals that are generated by a push-button device like those on a
touch-tone telephone.

**DTV (Digital TV):** Television signals transmitted and received in
digital format (discontinuous zeroes and ones; compare with ANALOG).
Digital TV has several formats and varying degrees of resolution, from
480 lines per screen progressively scanned to 1080 lines interlaced. DTV
includes HDTV, but not all DTV is HDTV since the bandwidth required for
HDTV can be broken down to accommodate several DTV signals of lesser
resolution.

**Dual Cable:** Two wires or coaxial cables operating side-by-side to
provide extra channel capacity and interactivity.

**(DWDM) Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing:** A technique by which
multiple light signals (generally using four or more signals) of
different wavelengths, are simultaneously transmitted in the same
direction over a single optical fiber.

### E

**Earth Station:** A large dish used for sending and receiving signals
from a communications satellite. A one-way, receive-only earth station
is known as TVRO.

**(EB) Electronic Bonding:** The ability to forge an interface between
the operations support systems of the local and long distance service
providers, thereby enabling the seamless exchange of information
concerning network needs and customer orders.

**(EDI) Electronic Data Interchange:** An electronic messaging system
for the trading and interchanging of information.

**(ES) Earth Station:** A satellite communications center, including the
antenna, receiver and electronics necessary in receiving satellite
transmitted signals.

**(ESS) Electronic Switching System:** It is a switching system for the
telephone network that is based on time-division multiplexing of
digitized analog signals.

**Ethernet:** The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers\'
(IEEE) widely used access method for the local area network (LAN)
protocol.

**Exclusivity:** Contractual right to be the sole exhibitor of a
television program in a particular area at a specified time.

**Extranet:** The part of a company or an organization internal computer
network which outside users and which uses the public Internet as its
transmission system, but requires passwords to gain access.

### F

**(FCC) The Federal Communications Commission:** Established by the
Communications Act of 1934, the FCC is the federal agency in charge of
overseeing interstate telecommunications, as well as all the
communications services originating and terminating in the United
States.

**(FDDI) Fiber Distributed Data Interface:** An ANSI define standard by
which computers can communicate at 1 00 million bits per second over
fiber-optic token ring network.

**(FDDI-LAN) Fiber Distributed Data Interface- LAN:** An American
National Standards Institute (ANSI) and ISO defined standard for
high-speed (100 MBPS) local area network (LAN) communications using
fiber-optic cable as the transmission medium.

**(FDMA) Frequency Division Multiple Access:** A multiplexing and
multiple access technique for sharing of a spectrum band where each user
is assigned a single transmission channel.

**(FEC) Forward Error Correction:** A data transmission technique that
is able to correct for bad data transmitted on the receiving end by
using the correction bits and a predetermined algorithm sequence.

**Feeder Line:** Intermediate distribution line (fiber or coaxial cable)
that connects a trunk from the headend to the drop cables serving
individual homes.

**Fiber Optics:** Thin transparent fibers of glass or plastic that are
enclosed by material of a lower index of refraction and in which
Light-Emitting Diodes (LED)s send light through the fiber to a detector
that turns the light into an electrical signal.

**Firewire:** An interface based on the IEEE--1394 standard which allows
OpenCable™ set-top boxes to be connected to digital television sets
without signal degradation.

**Forbearance:** A regulatory body's decision not to exercise its
authority over a given market or company, usually because there is
competition.

**(FPS) Fast Packet Switching:** A packet-oriented switching technique
that uses short and fixed length packets to increase the throughput.

**(FR) Frame Relay:** A packet access protocol primarily used to
intercon­nect distant LANs and routers together, to Internet access via T
-1.

**Franchise:** Contractual agreement between a cable operator and a
governmental entity that defines the rights and responsibilities of each
in the construction and operation of a cable system within a specified
geographic area.

**Franchising Authority:** Governmental body (city, county, or state)
responsible for awarding and overseeing local cable franchises.

**(FTP) File Transfer Protocol:** Widely used prior to 1995, it is a
protocol that enables the user to log onto computers at other sites and
transfer or retrieve files. These files were retrieved/transferred in
text format.

### G

**(GEO) Geostationary Earth Orbit:** A satellite orbit for
communications satellites 22,300 miles above the earth and whose speed
is the same as the earth\'s rotation, so thereby appearing stationary.

**(GS) Gateway Server:** A station on the local area network that has
devices necessary to provide system interoperability between one or more
network users.

**(GSM) Global Standard for Mobile Telecommunications:** A TDMA standard
set by the European Union for all European countries and increasingly
used throughout the world, for two-way digital cellular systems. It
oper­ates in the 1.8 to 1.9 GHz band in North America.

### H

**H.323:** An ITU standard for videoconferencing over packet-switched
network which is widely supported for Internet telephony.

**Hardware:** Equipment involved in the production, storage,
distribution, and reception of electronic signals, such as computers,
amplifiers, cameras, and VCRs.

**(HDSL) High Data Rate DSL:** A digital subscriber line technology that
allows for upstream data transmission at T -1 of fractional T -1 speeds
and quality over copper wires.

**Headend:** Facility that originates and distributes cable service in a
given geographic area. Depending on the size of the area it serves, a
cable system may be comprised of more than one headend.

**(HDTV) High Definition Television:** Digital television which offers
twice the resolution, wider screens, better sound, and better color than
the NTSC format. "True" HDTV involves a 16:9 aspect ratio and at least
720 lines per screen.

**(HFC) Hybrid Fiber/Coax**: A network architecture developed by the
cable industry which uses a blend of fiber and coaxial cable to bring
consumers interactivity, greater channel capacity, increased signal
strength, and improved

reliability.

**Home Shopping:** Cable and broadcast television programming which
allows customers to view and order merchandise at home.

**Homes Passed:** Households with the ability receive cable service and
which may opt to subscribe.

**(HQ) Headquarters:** A center of administration or operations.

### I

**(ILEC) Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier:** A term used to refer to a
Bell Operating Company.

**Independent:** An individually owned and operated cable television
system (compare with MSO).

**(I-NET) Institutional Network:** A private, dedicated network built
and/or operated by a cable TV system for local schools, businesses, or
government.

**Interactive:** Two-way communications allowing a person to both send
and receive information (compare with passive or receive-only systems,
such as broadcast television).

**Interconnection:** The linking of two or more telecommunications
networks, such as a cable system to a local exchange company or a long
distance carrier.

**Interlaced:** A scanning format for televisions which blends two
separate images, alternatively scanned on odd and even numbered lines,
into one frame (compare with PROGRESSIVE scanning).

**Internet:** A global data network supporting research, engineering,
commercial, information, and educational services.

**Intranet:** An in-house company network Web site that serves the
employees of the enterprise and which offers similar features and
services as the Internet.

**(IP) Internet Protocol:** An International Standards Organization
(ISO) stan­dard that implements the network layer 3 of an open system
interconnec­tion (OSI) model that contains a network address and is
utilized in direct­ing a message to a different network.

**(IS) Information Service:** The department in a company which oversees
the computers, networking and data management. This term has been
up­dated to IT (Information Technology).

**(ISDN) Integrated Services Digital Network:** A standard and
integrated digital network that allows users to simultaneously send
voice, data and video over multiple multiplexed communications channels
from a common network interface.

**(ISN) Internet Service Node:** An interconnection point in the
Internet network to other specific entities.

**(ISP) Internet Service Provider:** A service provider that has its own
network (or leases) to which end-users dial into to connect to the
Internet.

**(ITSP) Internet Telephony Service Provider:** A company that provides
users with telephony service via the Internet through standard telephone
wires.

**(ITU) International Telecommunications Union:** An international
organization within which governments and private sectors set
communications standards.

**IXC (Interexchange Carrier):** A long distance telephone company
linking separate local exchanges.

### K

**(Kft) Kilofeet:** A thousand feet.

**(Km) Kilometer:** A thousand meters, or 0.62 miles.

### L

**(LAN) Local Area Network:** A data communications network that links
together computers and peripherals to serve users within a confined
area.

**Leased Access:** Commercial channels made available by a cable
operator to third parties for a fee, as required by the Cable Acts of
1984 and 1992.

**(LATA) Local Access Transport Area:** The area in which Regional Bell
Operating Companies were allowed to provide local telephone and exchange
access services as a result of the divestiture of AT&T in 1984.

**Layer-1:** In networking, the fist phase of the communications
protocol of the open system interconnection (OSI) model, also referred
to as the physical layer, which provides the transmission of bits over
the network medium.

**Layer 2:** The second layer of the open system interconnection (OSI)
model that contains the physical address of a client or server station,
also called the data link layer.

**Layer 3:** The third layer of the open system interconnection (OSI)
model, which con­tains the logical address of a client or server station.

**Layer 4:** Also known as the transport layer, it is the layer of the
open system interconnection (OSI) model which provides end-to-end
management of the communications session.

**Layer 5:** The fifth layer of the open system interconnection (OSI)
model that initiates and manages the communications session.

**(LCD) Liquid Crystal Display:** An electro-optical display technology
that uses rod-shape molecules that flow like liquid and bend light.

**(LDAP) Lightweight Directory Application Protocol:** A protocol that
is implemented in querying directory databases.

**(LEC) Local Exchange Carrier:** Any authorized carrier that has been
given permission by the state PUC to provide local voice-level
telecommunications services within a predetermined area

**(LEOS) Low Earth Orbit Satellite:** Satellites that orbit the earth at
lower altitudes.

**(LID) Line Information Database:** These databases contain all valid
telephone and calling card numbers, and when a user places a calling
card call, these databases can provide validation.

**(LMDS) Local Multipoint Distribution Service:** A wireless cable
system that enables greater upstream bandwidth than most other wireless
services from a fixed station for entertainment video and CLEC services.

**(LNP) Local Number Portability:** A feature that allows customers to
maintain their present telephone numbers when they change carriers for
incoming calls.

**(LO) Local Origination Programming:** Material developed by an
individual cable television system specifically for the community it
serves.

**Local Loop:** The wire that connects a home or business to a telephone
company's central office.

**Local-To-Local:** The retransmission by DBS of local TV signals back
into their local broadcast markets.

**Long Distance:** A call in the public switched telephone network that
goes beyond the local calling area.

**Loop:** A pair of wires that connects the central office to the
telephone set. The telephone set is the location of the telephone.

### M

**(MAE) Metro Area Exchange:** Major access points in a network in the
Internet.

**(MAN) Metropolitan Area Network:** A communications network that
covers a large portion of a city or a large campus through which two or
more LANs interconnect.

**(MDF) Main Distribution Frame:** A unit that connects between outside
plant cables and internal lines or line equipment in the central office
(CO).

**(MDS) Multipoint Distribution Service:** A pay-TV broadcast delivery
service through microwave frequencies from a fixed station to multiple
small dish antennas.

**(MF) Multi-Frequency:** A frequency composed of two or more
frequencies.

**Miles of Plant:** Number of cable plant miles laid or strung by a
cable system; the cable miles in place.

**(MM) Millimeter:** A unit of measure for one thousandth of a meter.

**MMDS (Multi-Channel/Multi-Point Distribution System):** A wireless
cable service using microwaves to transmit multiple television signals
to customers.

**MODEM (Modulator--Demodulator):** An electronic device that allows
users to connect computers and other equipment in their homes, schools,
or businesses to a network for the purpose of sending and/or receiving
data.

**(MPEG) Moving Picture Experts Group:** An international group that
sets standards for compressing video images.

**(MPLS) Multiprotocol Label Switching:** A technical description for
layer 3 switching using labels of fixed-Length to quicken the pace in
traffic paths.

**(MSO) Multiple System Operator:** A major cable TV organization that
has franchises in multiple locations.

**(MUX) Multiplexer:** A device that combines many input devices into
one compiled signal to be carried over one telephone line.

**Must Carry:** A policy, developed by the FCC in the 1960s and codified
by Congress in 1992, requiring cable systems to carry the analog signal
of a local television station if that broadcaster so chooses (see also
RETRANSMISSION CONSENT). The Supreme Court voted 5-4 in 1997 to uphold
must carry for analog broadcast television signals.

### N

**(NAP) Network Access Point:** Also known as the Internet Exchanges
(IXS), it is a point where major Internet service providers come
together and interconnect with each other.

**Narrowcasting:** Delivery of programming that addresses a specific
need or highly focused audience.

**Near Video On Demand:** The practice of offering the same programming
on different channels at different times so that customers do not have
to wait long for a desired show to begin.

**(NEL) Network Element Layer:** The layer of an integrated digital
network whose function and capabilities include the information
necessary for billing and collection, for routing or transmission of a
telecommunications service.

**Network Non-Duplication Rules:** FCC rules prohibiting a cable
operator from importing a network's broadcast signals from a distant
television market when they are available simultaneously from a local
network affiliate.

**(NIC) Network Interface Card:** An interface card that interconnects
all the adapters in a computer to provide access to the network.

**Node:** A connection point in a cable system (often where a fiber
enters a neighborhood and connects to coaxial cables serving 200-1000
individual homes).

**Noise:** Static and other distortions to an electronic signal which
degrade the quality of television pictures and sound received by the
consumer.

**(NPA) Numbering Plan Area:** The first three digits of a North
American tele­phone number, often an "area code", in which the first
digit cannot be a 1 or a 0 and that the remaining numbers can be 2
through 9.

**(NPAC) Number Portability Administration Center:** A national database
that keeps track of all ported number at the national and regional
levels.

**(NSP) Network Service Provide:** An Internet provider that offers
high-speed backbone services.

**(NTSC) National Television System Committee:** Responsible for the
specifications administered by the FCC for commercial broadcasting.

**Number Portability:** The right of telephone customers to keep their
existing phone numbers if they change locations or service providers.

### O

**Off The Air:** Refers to the reception of broadcast television signals
with a local antenna (either roof-top or set-top) instead of through a
cable or satellite dish.

**OpenCable:** An initiative of the cable industry (through CableLabs)
to develop and label a new generation of interoperable digital boxes
available through retail stores that will provide subscribers with
video, data, and interactive services.

**Operating Income:** Generally defined as a company's income before
interest payments and taxes.

**Optical Amplifier:** A device that receives an optical signal and
amplifies it and retransmits it as an optical signal to the system.

**(OSI) Open System Interconnection:** A logical structure developed by
the International Standards Organization to enable devices from multiple
vendors to communicate with any other OSI-compliant system.

**OSP (On-Line Service Provider):** An interactive computer service such
as Road Runner, \@Home, or AOL which provides subscribers with
proprietary information as well as access to the Internet (compare with
ISP).

**(OSS) Operations Support Systems:** A system that processes
telecommunications information which supports various management
functions like network management, inventory control, maintenance,
trouble ticket reporting, surveillance and service provisioning.

### P

**Packet:** A group of bits switched as a unit block of data used for
transmission in a packet-switched network.

**Pay Cable:** A network or service available for an added monthly fee.
Also called premium. Some services, call mini-pay, are marketed at an
average monthly rate below that of full-priced premium.

**Pay Cable Unit:** Each premium service to which a household subscribes
is counted as one unit.

**Pay-Per-View:** Pay service that enables a subscriber to order and
view events or movies on an individual basis.

**(PBX) Private Branch Exchange:** A private telephone system switch
that interconnects telephone extensions to each other, as well as to the
outside telephone network.

**(PCM) Pulse Code Modulation:** The sampling of a signal and each
sample is then digitized so as to have it transmitted over a medium.

**(PCN) Personal Communications Network:** A kind of wireless
communications system that transmits through low-power antennas and uses
lightweight and inexpensive handsets.

**(PCS) Personal Communications Service:** A wireless service concept
that allow users to communicate with the combination of terminal and
personal mobility. The allocation of spectrum in the 1800-1900 MHz band
is called the PCS band.

**PEG (Public, Educational, and Governmental):** See ACCESS CHANNELS.

**Penetration:** The number of homes actually served by cable in a given
area, expressed as a percentage of homes passed (e.g. cable penetration
in November 1998 was 67.4 percent nationwide).

**(PIC) Primary Inter-Exchange Carrier:** The carrier for interstate and
international calling that can be accessed without being required to
dial extra digits. Calls get automatically routed to the customer\'s
"PIC".

**Point of Presence:** A site where telecommunications companies (such
as cellular and long distance providers) physically interconnect their
systems with other networks (such as local telephone companies or cable
companies).

**Pole Attachment:** The place where, for a fee, cable systems attach
their wires to telephone or utility poles.

**(POP) Point of Presence:** The location at which a line from a long
distance carrier (IXC) connects into a local telephone carrier\'s
switching network facility.

**(POTS) Plain Old Telephone Service:** The basic telephone lines
connecting most residential and small business users to the public
telephone network.

**(PPP) Point-to Point Protocol:** A data link protocol that is popular
for Internet access and for carrying higher level protocols, while
supporting both asynchronous and synchronous lines.

**Premium Services:** Individual channels such as HBO and SHOWTIME which
are available to cable customers for a monthly subscription fee.

**Progressive:** A scanning format used by computer monitors and some
television sets where each picture frame is presented sequentially and
is scanned continuously from the top left of the screen down to the
bottom right corner (compare with INTERLACED).

**(PRI) Primary Rate Interface:** An interface standard for integrated
services digital network providing a total of 1.544 MBPS.

**(PSC) Public Service Commission:** Also known as the Public Utilities
Commission (PUC), a state regulatory body that oversees public utility
service providers.

**(PSN) Packet Switching Node:** A node in a packet-switching network,
supporting the formatting, transmitting and routing packets.

**(PSTN) Public Switched Telecom Network:** The common domestic
telecommunications network that is access by private branch exchange
trunks, telephones, and Centrex systems.

**(PTM) Packet Transfer Mode:** A technique of packet switching and
transmission that enables more effective sharing of network resources by
various users.

**(PUC) Public Utility Commission:** A state regulatory body that is
responsible for establishing and implementing public policy and
regulating intrastate utilities.

**(PVC) Permanent Virtual Connection:** A point-to-point virtual
connection scheduled ahead of time for a long-term connection between
data terminal equipment.

### R

**(RADSL) Rate Adaptive DSL:** A modem technology (DSL) that maximizes
the digital speed of copper lines and adjusts speeds in reference to
signal quality.

**(RBOC) Regional Bell Operating Company:** The regional holding
companies that resulted from the divestiture of A T& T. The previous 22
bell telephone companies were combined into 7 regional companies in
1984.

**Regional Hubs:** Fiber optic rings that link several adjacent or
regional headends, thus improving reliability, lowering costs, and
expanding cable's offerings to include Internet access and telephone
service.

**Retransmission Consent:** A policy enacted by Congress in 1992
requiring cable operators to secure the consent of local television
stations before retransmitting their signals. Instead of retransmission
consent, broadcasters may choose MUST CARRY.

**(RF) Radio Frequency:** The range on the electromagnetic frequencies
with radio transmission.

**(RJ-11 Jack) Registered Jack -11:** The type of phone jack that local
telephone companies wire for most residential homes and which can only
hold one line.

**Router:** A device that forwards data packets of a specific protocol
type from one logical network to another logical network, based on
routing tables and routing protocols.

**(RSVP) Resource Reservation Protocol:** A network protocol that
signals a router to reserve a resource along the data path for real-time
transmission.

**(RT) RingbackTone:** Also known as an audible ringing tone, it is the
signal that the calling party hears during the ringing interval as an
audio tone interrupted at a slow repetition rate.

**(RTP) Real Time Protocol:** An Internet protocol for the transmission
of voice and video.

### S

**Satellite:** Communications device usually located in geostationary
orbit, which receives transmissions from earth and retransmits them to
different parts of the globe.

**(SBC) SBC Communications Inc:** A regional telecommunications company
made up of Southwestern Bell, Pacific Bell, Nevada Bell and Cellular
One.

**(SCE) Service Creation Environment:** Software for inputting
comprehensive and elaborate enhanced service specifications.

**(SCP) Service Control Point:** Software that enables carriers\'
computers to offer enhanced services by handling 800 numbers, collect
and third-party billing calls, as well as calling cards, while involving
the customer with data interaction.

**Scrambling:** An electronic security technique used to render a TV
signal unviewable unless it is processed and restored by an authorized
decoder or descrambler.

**Set Top Box:** see BOX, CONVERTER, and DESCRAMBLER.

**Share:** The percent of television households tuned to a particular
program or category of programming.

**SHVA (Satellite Home Viewer Act):** Federal law (section 119 of the
Copyright Act) which gives direct-to-home satellite distributors such as
DBS a compulsory license for the retransmission of broadcast television
programming. The SHVA will expire on December 31, 1999, unless extended
by Congress.

**Signaling:** The transmission of electrical signals that contain
switching information between stations, user\'s premises, offices and
various central offices.

**(SLIP) Serial Line Internet Protocol:** A protocol that enables a
computer to utilize Internet Protocol via high-speed modem and a
telephone line.

**SMATV (Satellite Master Antenna Television):** Small-scale, private
cable system using a central rooftop antenna to serve the TV sets in an
apartment building, hotel, or multiple dwelling unit.

**(SMDS) Switched Multimegabit Data Service:** A fast packet-switching
service offered by local telephone companies to provide cross-premises
communications services between LANs.

**(SMS) Service Management System:** A system that coordinates all of
the national 800 telephone numbers for all the US telephone companies
through service control points (SCP).

**(SONET) Synchronous Optical Network:** An American National Standards
Institute (ANSI) standard for high speed, fiber optical transmission on
the network.

**Spot Revenue:** Revenue from advertising placed on a cable system by a
local or national advertiser.

**(SS7) Signaling System #7:** An addressing protocol for setting up
calls and providing a faster processing of a call by operating out of
band, for transaction services such as caller ID, automatic recall and
call forwarding.

**(SSP) Service Switching Point:** Software capable of sending
triggering signals to service control points and queering these
databases for information to process telephone calls.

**(STP) Shielded Twisted Pair:** A two-wire twisted metallic
transmission line that is protected by a sheath of conductive material.

**(STPs) Signal Transfer Points:** Packet switches that routes signals
over paths completely separate from the voice paths.

**(STS) Synchronous Transport Signal:** The signal rate carried over a
Synchronous Optical Network (SONET).

**Subscriber:** This term is used interchangeably with household.

**Switch:** A mechanical or electronic device for making, breaking, or
changing the direction flow of electrical or optical signals from one
side to the other.

**Syndicated Exclusivity (SYNDEX):** Federal requirement that cable
systems black out syndicated programming from distant signals
(out-of-town television stations) for which a local broadcaster has
exclusive contractual rights. For example, cable operators cannot import
"I Love Lucy" as part of a distant TV signal if a local broadcaster has
purchased the syndication rights for that program in its market. (The
FCC eliminated this requirement in 1980 and subsequently reimposed it in
1990.)

**System:** Facility that provides cable service in a given geographic
area, comprised of one or more headends.

### T

**T-I:** Two pairs of copper wire that can carry 24 DS-O signals at a
rate of 1.544 MBPS.

**(TA) Terminal Adapter:** An external device, which connects computers
to an ISDN line.

**TANDEM:** A special ILEC switch which interconnects local ILEC
switches directly serving providing dial tone to users with IXC or CLEC
switches and/or networks.

**(TCP/IP) Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol:** A
communications protocol developed by the Department of Defense to
inter-network dissimilar systems and operates at layers 3 and 4 (network
and transport, respectively) of the OSI model.

**(TDM) Time Division Multiplexing:** A digital multiplexing method to
merge signals from two or more channels, such as telephones, computers,
and video, into a common channel for transmission over telephone lines.

**(TELCO) Public Telephone Company:** A company that provides
telecommunication services.

**Teleradiology:** A system that enables the viewing and processing of
images within a hospital\'s nuclear medicine departments or remote image
viewing from home computers or remote sites.

**(TELNET) Virtual Terminal Protocol:** An Internet service that allows
a user to create an interactive session with a computer on a different
network as if they were actually on that system.

**Tier:** A package of television channels offered to customers for a
single price. Most cable systems have more than one tier, e.g., a basic
package including local broadcast stations, and one or more expanded
tiers featuring popular cable program networks. In addition, cable
operators offer premium subscription services, such as HBO and SHOWTIME,
and pay-per-view events such as movies, boxing matches, and concerts.

**(TMN) Telecommunications Management Network:** A network using a set
of international standards that interconnects and interfaces with a
tele­communications network in order to interchange information in order
to control and maintain the telecommunications network.

**Translator:** Relay system that picks up distant television signals,
converts the signals to another channel to avoid interference, and
retransmits them into areas the original television station could not
reach.

**Transponder**: The part of a satellite that receives and retransmits a
signal.

**Transport:** The transfer access service to and from a point of
presence (POP) serving wire center and a customer\'s serving wire center
or end office (EO).

**Trunk:** A communications network that can be used to connect circuits
between switches or to interconnect switches themselves to form a
network.

**Trunking:** Transporting signals from one central point in a cable
system (such as a headend) to another site without serving customers
directly. Trunking can be accomplished by using fiber optics, coaxial
cable, or microwave, although fiber is now the norm for the cable
industry.

**(TV) Television:** An electronic system of transmitting transient
images and sound by means of electronic signals transmitted through
wires and optical fibers.

**Twisted Pair**: The wire traditionally used by telephone companies to
connect customers to their central offices. It consists of two or more
strands of color-coded copper wire bound together in a protective
sheath.

**Two-Way:** See INTERACTIVE.

**(TWTA) Traveling Wave Tube Amplifiers:** The main microwave repeaters
or transmitters on a satellite.

### U

**(UDP) User Datagram Protocol:** A host-to-host protocol, which allows
an application program on one computer to send a datagram to an
application on another computer via packet-switched communications
network.

**Unbundling:** Requiring local exchange companies to separate the
various components of their telephone service into independently
available and separately priced features, such as the local loop,
switching, operator assistance, and billing.

**Underground Installation:** Installing coaxial and fiber cable
underground as opposed to hanging it from poles (compare with AERIAL
PLANT).

**(UNE) Unbundled Network Elements:** Parts and components of a system
that are sold separately, including local loops, OSS, local and tandem
switches, as well as network interface devices.

**Universal Service:** A fund to which interstate carrier must
contribute in order to provide access to the advanced interexchange
telecommunications services to those people living in rural areas and
where it world otherwise not be cost-efficient to invest.

**Unserved Area:** See WHITE AREA.

**Upstream:** Flow of information from a customer back up through a
cable system to the headend.

### V

**(VCR) Video Cassette Recorder:** A recording and playback machine that
takes signals from a television camera via a television receiver and
records them on magnetic tapes.

**Video On Demand**: The ability to provide television programming to
customers upon request (see also NEAR VIDEO ON DEMAND).

**(VOD) Voice Operated Device:** A device that is operated by a system
with speech recognition.

**(VPI/VCI) Virtual Path Identifier Virtual Channel Identifier:** The
combination of the address of a virtual circuit and of a virtual path,
thereby identifying a connection on an ATM network.

**(VPN) Virtual Private Network:** A private switched network that
allows sites that are connected with one another to contact each other
without dialing all eleven digits.

**(VRU) Voice Response Unit:** A device that is capable to form a spoken
message from an assortment of stored words.

**(VSAT) Very Small Aperture Terminal:** A small earth station for
satellite transmission and which is made up of one master earth station
and several two-way satellite terminals. Commonly used by multinational
firms in the transmission of fax, voice, and data throughout a
widespread area.

### W

**(WAN) Wide Area Network:** A network that connects two or more LANs in
multiple cities via telephone lines.

**(WDN) Wavelength Division Multiplexing:** A technology that utilizes
the transmission of multiple light signals simultaneously through the
same optical fiber, while preserving the integrity of each individual
signal.

**White Area:** An area unserved by a local, over-the-air broadcast
signal (outside its grade B contour).

**(WLL) Wireless Local Loop:** A system that uses radio waves, as a
substitute for copper in making telephone connections from your home or
office to the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

**(WWW) World Wide Web:** A basic way of communication through the
Internet for world-wide hypertext linking of multimedia documents.