Cox Communications confirmed that it has initiated an all-digital upgrade in Topeka, Kan., the next stop in a deployment that the MSO intends to wrap up early 2017.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reported that Cox expects to reclaim its analog spectrum and deliver an all-digital video lineup by January 12.

Following an initial all-digital deployment in Connecticut last year, other Cox markets with upgrades underway include Rhode Island, Tulsa, Omaha, Orange County, Cleveland, New Orleans, NW Arkansas, San Diego, Greater Louisiana, and other sections of Kansas. Remaining Cox markets will start the process, with the aim of completing the upgrade by early 2017, a Cox spokesman said via email.

To fuel the all-digital migrations, Cox is using a “Mini Box,” a downstream-only Digital Transport Adapter (DTA) that converts digital signals to analog. Cox’s is using a new class of DTA with an HDMI port that supports HD. HD-DTAs will also come with a remote control, an on-screen guide, and parental controls. Evolution Digital and Cisco Systems are among Cox’s known HD-DTA suppliers.

In its all-digital markets, Cox is offering eligible subs one free Mini Box for up to 12 months, and leasing out additional units for $1.99 per month. Cox is also providing a free CableCARD for 12 months instead of a Mini Box for subs with TiVo boxes and other CableCARD-compatible devices.

Cox has set up a Web site, including the video below, that provides consumers with more details about the transition.

Time Warner Cable said it has added Greensboro and Wilmington, N.C., to the list of markets that are getting the “TWC Maxx” treatment – all-digital upgrades that will pave the way to faster Internet speeds, a larger VOD library and a souped-up HD-DVR platform.

Greensboro and Wilmington is also being targeted by AT&T and its 1-Gig-capable, fiber-based GigaPower platform.

On the broadband end, TWC said the upgrades in those markets will allow it to raise the downstream speeds to a trio of tiers  without raising the price: Standard (from 15 Mbps to 50 Mbps); Extreme (from 30 Mbps to 200 Mbps); and Ultimate (100 Mbps to 300 Mbps.).

Subs in those markets will also have access to an Enhanced DVR equipped with 1 terabyte of storage that can record up to six shows at once.  TWC’s VOD library, now at 20,000 titles, will rise to 30,000 by the end of the year.

TWC, which is in the process of being acquired by Charter Communications, said customer satisfaction is on the upswing in “Maxx” areas.

Similar upgrades are underway or have been completed in  Los Angeles; New York; Austin/Central Texas; Kansas City; Dallas; San Antonio; San Diego; Hawaii and Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C. 

TWC said about 45% of its Internet customers nationwide will have access to TWC Maxx-enabled  Internet speeds by the end of this year, and more than 50% of video subscribers will have access to the new all-digital video platform.

Over the next month, customers in San Antonio, San Diego/Desert Cities, and Wilmington will get word from TWC about the next phase of the project, and the first steps of the all-digital upgrade will start in Greensboro in mid-September, TWC said.

Time Warner Cable is on target to upgrade at least half of its more than 10 million residential video subs to an all-digital platform by the end of 2015, the MSO said in this blog post about its progress.

TWC, following a path blazed by MSOs such as Comcast, is trying to accelerate the upgrade by using Digital Transport Adapters, simple one-way boxes that convert digital video signals to analog. TWC said it has deployed nearly 2.4 million new DTAs for far in 2015. TWC is shipping those devices at no cost and providing them free to customers for the first year (as of January 2015, the price on TWC DTAs is $2.75 per month). 

Those all-digital upgrades factor into the MSO’s larger TWC Maxx initiative that will use reclaimed analog spectrum to offer more digital channels, expand its video-on-demand library (30,000 titles by end of year), and enable broadband speed upgrades, including a new 300 Mbps (downstream) DOCSIS 3.0 tier. TWC is also introducing an “enhanced DVR” outfitted with six tuners and 1 terabyte of storage in its upgraded markets.

TWC has completed the all-digital conversion in Los Angeles; New York; Austin/Central Texas; Kansas City; and Dallas; and expects to wrap it up this summer in Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C; and in San Antonio by the end of the year. TWC Maxx work will be underway in San Diego this year, with a plan to complete it in “early 2016.”

TWC is in the process of being acquired by Charter Communications, which completed its all-digital transition last year ahead of its expected broad deployment of a new cloud-based interface that will run on all classes of set-top boxes. 

Cox Communications has kicked off an all-digital project in Omaha that will enable the MSO to reclaim analog spectrum for other services, including bigger HDTV and VOD lineups and faster Internet speeds.

The phased-in project there will be completed over the next eight months, according to the Omaha World-Herald. 

Update: Following an initial all-digital deployment last year Connecticut, Cox has also started similar upgrades in systems serving Rhode Island and Tulsa, Okla. New Orleans and Cleveland are among systems that are on deck. Cox is also preparing to start the all-digital process in Orange County in May, a spokesman said. 

To assist with the all-digital migrations, Cox is using a “Mini Box,” a downstream-only Digital Transport Adapter (DTA) that converts digital signals to analog. Cox’s is using a new class of DTA with an HDMI port that supports HD. HD-DTAs will also come with a remote control, an on-screen guide, and parental controls. Evolution Digital and Cisco Systems are among Cox’s known HD-DTA suppliers. 

Cox has set up a Web site that provides details about its all-digital transition.

In its all-digital markets, Cox is offering eligible subs one free Mini Box for up to 12 months, and leasing out additional units for $1.99 per month. Cox is also providing a free CableCARD for 12 months instead of a Mini Box for subs with TiVo boxes and other CableCARD-compatible devices.

Following an initial rollout in Connecticut, Cox Communications confirmed that its all-digital transition has stretched into systems serving Rhode Island and Tulsa, Okla.

Next in line are New Orleans and Cleveland as Cox looks to expand the migration to other systems through the end of this year and into 2016, Cox spokesman Todd Smith said.

Cox kicked off the transition in Connecticut late last year, a move that will enable the operator to reclaim spectrum currently being used to deliver about 60 analog TV channels. Cox will use that reclaimed capacity to pump up its digital TV channel offerings, expand its VOD service and free up spectrum for DOCSIS 3.1, an emerging multi-gigabit platform for HFC networks.

More than half of that reclaimed spectrum will be used for DOCSIS 3.1, Kevin Hart, Cox’s EVP and CTO, told Multichannel News in an interview last year.

Cox is deploying fiber-to-the-premises technology in a somewhat targeted fashion during its initial deployment of 1-Gig residential broadband services, though DOCSIS 3.1 is expected to play a keyrole  in a plan that calls for Cox to begin market-wide deployments of gigabit speeds by the end of 2016.  

To assist with all-digital migration, Cox is employing a “Mini Box,” a downstream-only Digital Transport Adapter (DTA) that converts digital signals to analog. Cox’s is using a new class of DTA with an HDMI port that supports high definition TV. Cox’s HD-DTAs will also come with a remote control, an on-screen guide, and parental controls.

Multichannel Newsreported in August  that Cox had selected Evolution Digital and Cisco Systems as its first two DTA suppliers.

Cox has launched a web site for its all-digital project. Cox is offering eligible subs one free Mini Box for up to 12 months, and leasing out additional units for $1.99 per month. Cox is also providing a free CableCARD for 12 months instead of  a Mini Box for subs with TiVo boxes and other CableCARD-compatible devices.

Alternatively, Cox customers affected by the all-digital shift can lease interactive set-tops with CableCARDs that support services and apps such as VOD, the operator’s new Contour interface, and premium channels .

Time Warner Cable said it has kicked off “TWC Maxx” all-digital upgrades in the Dallas Metroplex that will pave the way for faster broadband speeds, more channels and VOD, and the operator’s new, souped-up HD-DVR.

TWC said it is also expanding the rollout of its metro WiFi network in Dallas, starting in small business locations, with outdoor deployments to kick off toward the end of the first quarter.

On the broadband end, TWC Maxx will boost the capabilities of the MSO’s Standard residential tier from 15 Mbps to 50 Mbps downstream; raise Extreme from  30 Mbps to as much as 200 Mbps; and bump subs of the Ultimate offering from 100 Mbps to 300 Mbps, at no extra charge. Regarding broadband competition, AT&T has begun to offer its fiber-based, 1-Gig-capable “GigaPower”  to pockets of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.

TWC will also make available an Arris-made Enhanced DVR with six tuners and a 1-terabyte drive, enough to record up to 50 hours of HD video. 

TWC is also using one-way Digital Transport Adapters (DTAs) in support of the all-digital conversion. In Dallas, TWC is offering existing customers DTAs at no charge through April 21, 2016, so long as they put in their orders by August 19, 2015. DTAs are simple channel zappers that convert digital signals to analog.

TWC. which is in the process of being acquired by Comcast, said the first phase of the all-digital initiative  will reach the following areas: Addison, Allen, Arlington, Bedford, Carrollton, Cedar Hill, Cockrell Hill, Colleyville, Commerce, Coppell, Dallas, DeSoto, Double Oak, Euless, Farmers Branch, Farmersville, Flower Mound, Frisco, Garland, Grand Prairie, Grapevine, Greenville, Highland Village, Hutchins, Irving, Kennedale, Lancaster, Lewisville, McKinney, Mesquite, Murphy, Pantego, Plano, Princeton, Richardson, Rockwall, Rowlett, Sachse, St. Paul, Sunnyvale, The Colony and Wylie.

TWC Maxx upgrades are underway or complete in Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York, and San Antonio. Other TWC markets on tap this year include San Diego, Hawaii, Charlotte and Raleigh.

Time Warner Cable said it has completed the rollout of its “TWC Maxx” initiative in Los Angeles in New York, all-digital upgrades that include faster broadband speeds and access to a new, souped-up whole home HD-DVR platform.

The upgrades are highlighted by a new 300 Mbps (downstream) DOCSIS 3.0 service that replaces its former 50 Mbps offering, an all-digital TV lineup and an expanded VOD library packed with about 19,000 titles. Additionally, TWC customers on the MSO’s Standard tier, will see downstream speeds rise from 15 Mbps, to 50 Mbps, while Extreme rises from 30 Mbps to 200 Mbps.

TWC’s new  “enhanced” DVR made by Arris offered in Los Angeles and NYC features six tuners and 1 Terabyte of storage (enough for about 150 hours of HD video), and a cloud-based version of the operator’s VOD portal. 

TWC, which is in the process of merging with Comcast, said the TWC Maxx enhancements are now available to more than 7 million homes in those markets.  In NYC, TWC matches up with Verizon FiOS and RCN, and tangles with AT&T in Los Angeles. TWC competes with DirecTV and Dish Network in both areas.

TWC announced the TWC Maxx initiative in January 2014. In August, the MSO announced that it was extending the program to Austin this year (broadband speeds have already been upgraded there, with the all-digital transition currently underway), with seven more markets on tap for the TWC Maxx treatment in 2015: Kansas City, Dallas, San Antonio, San Diego, Hawaii, Charlotte and Raleigh.

“Today marks an important milestone in Time Warner Cable’s commitment to provide our customers with best-in-class products and service,” said Time Warner Cable chairman and CEO Robert Marcus, in a release. “Every customer in our two largest markets now has access to the superfast Internet and new TV experience promised by TWC Maxx.  Faster speeds are also available to every customer in the Austin, Texas, market, and we’ve committed to reinvent the service experience in seven additional markets in 2015.”