Scientific-Atlanta Adds Viewership Measurement to Set-tops

Scientific-Atlanta introduced new Operations Support System (OSS) featuring tools to help cable operators insight into consumers' viewership habits and for proactive monitoring of set-top and network performance at the subscriber's TV set. The new "Retriever" application also includes automated backup, disaster recovery, revenue assurance and VoIP launch applications.



The viewership measurement tool collects data based on the consumer's "clicks" of the set-top remote - every time a new channel is selected, the activity is logged at the set-top for eventual relay to the headend data collection server. Scientific-Atlanta said that in order to protect the consumer's privacy and operate within the boundaries established by the Cable Communications Act of 1984, its application can aggregate the set-top viewership data it receives into a trends-based report for geographic node areas or by zip code. The viewership data is encrypted and stripped of customer-specific information before it is sent to a headend server for aggregation. http://www.scientificatlanta.com