Manufacturer attempting to overcome DSR 471 shortage
The Motorola DSR 471 digital box used by small cablecos in HITS-QT systems is still in production although there has recently been a supply shortage, according to Cliff Fox, product manager at Blonder Tongue Laboratories in Old Bridge NJ. Blonder Tongue manufactures the transcoders that are compatible with and are used with the HITS-QT service in Canada and the United States. Also, it partners with White Radio Communications Services Group to distribute the DSR 471 in Canada. "Initially, we anticipated a very high demand, and there was a good supply of demand (for the DSR 471 box) but it curtailed off. We started to sell through the stock in both the United States and Canada. Then, suddenly the demand somewhat waned so we didn’t anticipate such a large spike once again, both in Canada and the United States, which is what occurred," Fox explains. "We quickly exhausted the stock that we thought would be sufficient for several months. So Motorola had to go back into production, but it’s a 60- to 90-day lead time with production. Unfortunately, this information doesn’t seem to have been communicated to cable operators."

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