ISDB-C: Cable Television Transmission for Digital Broadcasting in Japan

Following the growing digitalization of broadcasting, Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting for Cable (ISDB-C) digital broadcasting over cable TV networks has been increasingly adopted in Japan. Cable TV transmission technologies in Japan can be classified into three types: 1) the transmodulation system,which consists of retransmission of received broadcast signals after converting their modulation; 2) the pass-through system, consisting of retransmission of received broadcast signals without changing their modulation but converting only the frequency as required; and 3) the ReMux system, which consists of first demodulating the received broadcast signal, then combining services before retransmission. In this paper, we describe the multiple TS transmission system and TS division system standardized by the Japan CATV Engineering Association and Japan Cable Laboratories, as well as two-way operation and the headend in the sky service, which is a commercial program distribution service launched in Japan for cable operators.