Alternative to High Cable TV Construction
Costs Offered
The Business Journal Television Broadcasting
VideoAge International
October, 1983
High construction costs are such as severe obstacle
to urban builds that both general and trade press
openly question cable’s future in the big cities.
However, alternatives to rising costs are being developed.
When McCourt Cable Systems, a cable construction
company, started wiring Boston for Cablevision Systems
last October (termed one of the toughest in the industry
due to its nearly 1,3000 km of underground and aerial
construction), it was found that traditional construction
methods would price cable out of the market. By combining
a variety of technologies with new materials and management
controls, a technique was developed that already has
reduced building time by more than 50 percent and
decreased costs by 25 percent. The process involves
cutting a narrow trench in streets with a self-propelled
rock saw, emplacing continuous self-contained cable
and backfilling with specially developed concrete.
Despite the success of this innovative technique,
the ultimate solution for cost effective urban construction
is believed to lie in Total Systems Management (TSM),
where the MSO designates one agent to be responsible
for the entire project.
The key to TSM’s approach is advanced planning.
Unlike other general construction projects, cable
TV systems are rarely built with all of the necessary
plans in the hands of the builder before construction
begins. Presently, the MSO selects subcontractors,
plans and managers for every construction step. The
MSO designers, however, often are removed from the
actual construction and have little sense of the work-flow.
Most systems operators are in experienced in managing
that kind of construction.
TSM tends to eliminate the confusion of too many
voices, since it assumes complete responsibility for
being on time within budget.
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