Cable Communications in the Dayton Miami Valley

A compilation of ten papers on the development of broadband cable communications in the Dayton area, concerned primarily with the economics, technology, franchising, and ownership of cable systems, as well as the range of community services they might provide. Ten-year financial projections show that an interconnected network of six cable systems covering 13 incorporated cities in the Dayton, Ohio, metropolitan area should be economically viable. The system’s economic prospects would be enhanced if the surrounding unincorporated areas were included to exploit further economies of scale. The postulated system would have a ten-year, nonexclusive franchise and a dual cable plant providing about 40 video channels from the headend to subscriber locations, plus a substantial capacity in the reverse direction equivalent to two or three video channels to permit program origination in remote locations, facsimile mail, information storage and retrieval, viewer interrogation and response, applications at all educational levels, and other services.