System and method of bidirectional digital video communication over a cable

A cable system that permits bidirectional digital communication along a cable with minimum message collisions comprising:

• a plurality of subscriber digital video home terminals each located at a different subscriber location,
• a cable headend having a processing means for calculating and storing a randomized back-off array for each of the plurality of subscriber home terminals, wherein the randomized back-off array is generated with a two-stage back-off retry algorithm,
• a trunk line interconnecting the cable headend and the plurality of subscriber digital video home terminals through which messages from a subscriber can be sent to the cable headend and digital video can be sent to the subscriber,
• and wherein each subscriber digital video home terminal includes means for receiving a randomized back-off array from the cable headend for controlling when a digital video home terminal attempts to send a message to the cable headend and then reattempts to send the message a plurality of times after a randomized back-off interval of time has passed after each reattempt until no collision would occur with another message generated from a different digital video home terminal.