headend is a cable term, not a broadcast one (true headends; cable headends are just transfer points), so I will assume that you are asking about both. I would tend to doubt that there are even 100K encoders world wide, even beyond the broadcast and cable markets. Encoders tend to cost multiples of $10,000. Most broadcasters have but a single encoder at this point, but that encoder can handle all the virtual channels provided by a broadcaster. Sinclair is an exception: they have two encoders per transport stream. At least a few years back, they had a single sd encoder and a single HD encoder. In many encoders, adding a new program service can be done by adding a new card to the rack frame. Not exactly cheap cards, however. Broadcasters tend to have redundant equipment arrangements when revenue is at stake, to keep the commercial fires stoked even in the face of trouble. However, digital is not at this point a revenue-producing business, so few have redundant digital encoders. For cable, digital is a revenue producing business, and I suspect there is more than a bit of redundancy there. However, not all digital services need to be encoded. The HITS (headend in the sky) model is set up so that cable systems can largely just pass through the channel configuration without encoding per se. I don't know much about the cable configuration, but a single encoder usually can encode more than one program service simultaneously. hth John Willkie Steve Wilson wrote I am wondering about the allocation of # of digital channels and number of encoders in a headend, are they typically implemented 1:1? How big is the broadcast encoder market - maybe 250K or 500K units? Thanks for the comments.... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.