 16VSB was notably intended to be used for ATSC digital cable, but quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) has become the "de facto" industry standard instead as it is cheap and readily available.A significant advantage of 8VSB for broadcasters is that it requires much less power to cover an area comparable to that of the earlier NTSC system, and it is reportedly better at this than the most common alternative system, COFDM.Part of the advantage is the lower peak to average power ratio needed compared to COFDM.