The cable industry’s charge for the next 12 months: Make just about every cable network available on demand, and develop an advanced-advertising management system for cable that rivals what’s now on the Internet.

Those were the directives issued by Time Warner Inc. President and Chief Operating Officer Jeffrey Bewkes in a spirited conclusion to the 2007 Cable Show’s slate of more than 80 panel sessions. At the Show’s closing General Session (the photo is of the laser show that opened the panel), Bewkes suggested some of the biggest opportunities for cable revolve around new variations of advertising support that have propelled television through decades of growth.

Bewkes was one of several panelists to point to video as an evolving growth engine for an industry that frequently seems consumed by new-media drivers like high-speed Internet service and telephone service. Joining him was Liberty Global Inc. President and CEO Michael Fries, who said new enhancements to television, like high-definition resolution and time-shifting, are creating a renaissance of sorts for a very familiar medium. “At my house, we are falling in love with TV again,” Fries said. The panelists also were bullish on a new era for targeted advertising over cable. ESPN President George Bodenheimer envisioned a more granular approach to viewer targeting prevailing over time, with advertisers progressing beyond “the never-ending pursuit of the young male or young female” to pursue more refined viewer demographics.

The focus on television’s future doesn’t mean advancements in data throughput and mobile communications aren’t captivating the industry. Cox Communications President Patrick Esser pointed optimistically to the outlook for huge leaps in cable data bandwidth, saying they’ll create a new palette for applications that will tantalize customers. But regardless of the application, Esser said the key to success will remain preserving trusted relationships with customers and retaining cable’s reputation as the a sort of do-it-all service provider than can fix problems when they occur.

The panelists, queried by CNN senior business correspondent Ali Velshi, also addressed the phenomenon of user-generated content and the much-cited “long tail” theory of digital media, which suggests mass-market appeal of content will give way to broader, but smaller, audiences for niche productions. Time Warner’s Bewkes resisted that analogy, saying user-generated content appearing on  YouTube and elsewhere is a modern-day variation of an enduring arena that’s similar to baseball’s “minor leagues” – a breeding ground for creativity, the best of which will rise up  to attain mainstream appeal.

- Stewart Schley

CableNET celebrated its 15th anniversary this year in Las Vegas. As it has in year's past, this educational technology showcase highlighted a wide variety of next-generation broadband technologies and services that cable operators are expected to deliver to consumers in the near term.

One technology popped out at me, since it has some interesting implications: a Motorola digital set-top box with ATSC off-air content tuning. As part of the Digital Television Transition, broadcasters have switched over to digital television and have also created multicast signals. Cable has been carrying these signals, with local cable systems carrying the digital signal of 788 unique broadcast stations as of June 2006, eight-and-a-half times the amount in January 2003, when 92 such stations were carried.

What you see in the photo is the external version of the Motorola device, which is a little larger than a pack of gum. It has a tuner, a demodulator and a USB interface. You connect an antenna to it and then it maps the off-air signals to your channel line-up. As you tune the channels, you can switch seamlessly from a cable channel to an off-air signal. Thanks to digital broadcasting, reception technology has improved. With the use of newer antennas and amplifiers, consumers would have an easier time of getting DTV reception.

- Paul Rodriguez

This afternoon, we released the following projected attendance and exhibitor numbers for The Cable Show ’07.

• 15,000 attendees
  
• 196,000 square feet of exhibit space
  
• 389 exhibitors

All of these projected figures are on par with last year's numbers.

“Advertising” and “on demand” seem to be tied at the semantic hip here, as momentum builds for new systems and approaches designed to weave advertising support into cable’s growing video-on-demand business.

Panel sessions organized by the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau included frequent references to on-demand advertising, even when they weren’t ostensibly devoted to the subject. A discussion on political advertising, for instance, segued into a conversation about the appeal of on-demand platforms as a way for candidates to get across detailed information about issues and platforms. A sales success story offered by an AE from Comcast’s Seattle operation revolved around a local VOD sports programming venture. And, more predictably, Wednesday’s Opening General Session about advanced advertising included an extensive dialogue around the subject, with network executives, including Oxygen Media’s Lisa Gersh, calling for more urgent action on deployment of “dynamic” VOD ad insertion – the technique that lets commercials ride along with unique VOD program streams.

A backdrop to the theme was Tuesday’s announcement of an advertising-supported program distribution deal between ABC/ESPN and Cox Communications Inc. The dialogue is welcome if it helps to foster more understanding of how on-demand advertising can (or will) work, said Matt Timothy of the cable spot ad rep firm National Cable Communications. Right now, he said, “there’s tremendous confusion.”

- Stewart Schley

Yesterday afternoon, Cable in the Classroom presented a session at The Cable Show featuring a panel of high school students drawn from Clark County-Las Vegas schools and teen media marketing expert, Anastasia Goodstein of Ypulse. At a conference full of cable industry experts and analysts, you may be wondering what these teenagers had to offer that hasn't already been said. As a standing-room-only audience learned, the answer to that question is “Plenty!”

Simply put, today’s youth are the most media-saturated, connected and tech-savvy generation ever. Their behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs about technology and media are shaping the world today and will do so only more in the future.

Among the big takeaways: Teens are very particular about the technology in their life and make it their business to stay current with the latest and greatest products and services. They have a large influence over their parents purchasing decisions for advanced products and services in the home. And, while they are voracious consumers of audio and video content, they are challenging many current advertising-supported business models – especially ones that do not do a good job of targeting their interests.

For cable, we can see these changes afoot as a challenge to our businesses or as an opportunity. Whether they are aware of it our not, many of today’s students are heavy users of cable’s broadband connectivity, they enjoy our award-winning programming and online interactive content, and are looking forward to our wireless offerings.

As an industry, we are well-positioned – perhaps best positioned – to offer them what they want, when and how they want it. Of course, the road ahead may not be entirely clear or even easy, but cable is a dynamic business and with a level playing field, there is no doubt that we can innovate, compete, and earn the trust of both today’s and tomorrow’s customers.

For more insights into the rapidly evolving views of teens be sure to check out Anastasia Goodstein’s blog.

- Doug Levin

Tuesday, May 8th:

11:45 – 12:30 p.m.
John Atanasio, CEO of Art World Television, LLC, announced the premier of the Art Gallery TV channelset for launch later this month on Comcast VOD.  Art Gallery TV will be the first program produced for Art World Television.  Art World Television hopes to provide advertisers and audiences with more specified programming choices through integrating VOD technology.  Atanasio revealed that this will be the first of fourteen art-themed VOD shows, promoting art through an interactive way.  Future programs will include Art Auction TV, Wine Show, Wine Auction TV, South of Houston and Drip.  The programs will also be available on the Art World Television Website in conjunction with the VOD availability. 

1:30 – 2:15 p.m.
RFD-TV Founder and President Patrick Gottsch, discussed the launch of their HD channel in conjunction with the launch of a new show, Ralph Emery Live.  Scheduled for launch in October 2007, RFD-TV HD will broadcast to an estimated 30 million homes and continue delivering genres of agriculture, rural lifestyle, equine and music and entertainment.  Ralph Emery Live will be hosted by country music’s well-known radio and television talent, Ralph Emery.  Originating from Nashville, TN, the new weekly one-hour television program featuring a legendary country music artist in a conversation setting along with a number of “live” phone calls and questions from the audience.   RFD-TV has affiliate agreements with DIRECTV, Charter, Mediacom, DISH Network, NCTC cable systems and Suddenlink. 

One of the more popular tchotkes from the Show floor are these foam rubber nunchuks from Lifeskool. This martial arts weapon goes back over a thousand years, but were popularized by Bruce Lee in the Seventies in films like Fist of Fury. If you scored a pair and want to learn how to use them, check out these videos from the North American Nunchaku Association.

- Paul Rodriguez

Once again, gaming is being addressed at The Cable Show.  If you drop by the Cable Game Arena, for example, you can see "Into the Pixel," a juried exhibit of video game art, such as in the photo to the left. There are also some video games available for a quick mid-day break and the wideband demo that Brian Roberts showed yesterday.

There is also a day-long series of panels on the topic. This morning, Don Daglow, President & CEO, Stormfront Studios, will address "Where Games Are Going and Why Cable is So Important." According to the Entertainment Software Association, 44% of most frequent game players say they play games online, up from 19% in 2000. The majority of cable High-Speed Data subscribers are playing games on a PC or console.

Here is some more data from ESA:

• US computer and video game software sales grew six percent in 2006 to $7.4 billion.
• The average game player is 33 years old and has been playing games for 12 years.
• Thirty-five percent of American parents say they play computer and video games.
• Thirty-eight percent of all game players are women.
• In 2005, 25 percent of Americans over the age of 50 played video games.

Below is a photo from last night's reception at the Game Arena. If you're here in Vegas, be sure to check it out.

- Paul Rodriguez

The changing television environment was addressed yesterday in a first-ever gathering of industry Chief Digital Officers.  "A Wider Canvas: TV Creators on the Potential (and Peril) of New Platforms" was moderated by the L.A. Times' Dawn Chmielewski as she led a discussion of the creation and delivery of content in the new digital media era.

As the availability of programming online, whether streaming or as downloads, continues to grow, there is considerable anxiety about the impact of such trends.  George Kliavkoff (NBC Universal) stated that online viewing of programming seemed to drive ratings, not cannibalize TV viewership.  The online availability of shows was used as a substitute for a DVR, allowing people to catch up on older episodes or timeshift their viewing.

Albert Cheng (Disney ABC Television Group) described how ABC has seen its popular programming illegally traded on peer-to-peer networks, which led to the deal that made their shows available on iTunes and ABC.com. However, since those platforms are only available for domestic audiences, and there are different release patterns globally, overseas viewers are still prone to pirate content.

There was also discussion of services such as Joost, the P2P platform for distributing TV shows and other forms of video digitally which has been mentioned on a number of panels at The Cable Show this year.  However, Cheng would like online distribution partners to spend money to drive awareness and not just rely on viral marketing for promotion. There are also key questions to ask.  What can the partner do that the programmer itself cannot?  Will the partner be a threat to the existing cable model?

The panel looked at the huge potential in the mobile market. James McCaffrey (Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.) suggested that the cable industry should take a look at the more advance mobile applications in other markets, particular Europe and Asia. Kliavkoff pointed out that there are standards in place in those markets for mobile content, as well as revenue opportunities for programmers.  He also noted how the very personal nature of a mobile device means that consumers will accept different pricing structure: a complete song can be bought for about one dollar, while a fragment of that song -- in the form of a ringtone -- is cheerfully purchased for three times that amount.

Diane Robina (Comcast Corporation) acknowledged that digital rights management issues must be addressed, but said, “Your users will always want to play with your product because they like it. You have to let the user do what they want but in a safe way.”

One amusing note: Chmielewski's description of Google as "frenemy" of cable.

- Paul Rodriguez