Cablefax The Magazine - May 2010 - 15

The Cable Show's Co-Chairmen
give thumbs up to Connection Week, talk 3D and TV Everywhere.
By Steve Donohue
CFAX: What will be the buzz at
this year's Cable Show?
Matt Blank, Chairman/CEO, Showtime
Networks Inc: It's kind of the
cable industry meets the entertainment
industry meets technology, Silicon Valley. I
think this will be a very fl ashy show.
Glenn Britt, Chairman, President,
CEO, Time Warner Cable: One of
the things we're doing, which I think is
a really important part of the show, is
an area called My World: Powered by
Cable. It's really meant to show what
cable is doing and what we can do. Visitors
are going to be able to go through a
virtual world of buildings and neighborhoods
and living spaces that we bring to
life through the things that we do. We're
going to teach you things like multiplatform,
time- and place-shifted TV.
CFAX: Which has more potential
for the industry-3D TV or TV
Everywhere?
GB: 3D TV is in sort of the same bucket
as HDTV. Before that we went from black
and white to color. It's a similar transition.
If consumers decide they like 3D we'll
pursue that with the programmers. But
I think it's way too early to tell-it's not
something that will happen overnight in
terms of a mass consumer thing.
TV Everywhere is really a whole different
thing. We think that if you look at the
world of video entertainment, consumers
ultimately want what we all want-the 4
" anys. " They want access to anything,
any time, on any device. The fi nal " any " is
any place. The idea of TV Everywhere is
very simple. It's ultimately to allow people
to buy one subscription and to get that
functionality I just described. The technolCableFAX:
The Magazine
May 2010
ogy is there to do that. Certainly business
structures and copyright deals and all of
that are not in place.
MB: I think you'll probably see a quicker
rollout of TV Everywhere in terms of television
use than 3D, just because of the
equipment requirements and production
requirements of 3D.
CFAX: Is The Cable Show less
important than it used to be?
GB: I don't think so. Although the fl avor
of the show has changed a little bit [from]
the late 70s and 80s, when so many new
program services were being created; the
B&B: Blank (above) and Britt say
Connection Week has worked.
fl oor of the show then was probably
dominated by new program networks.
There was a certain excitement about
that that people might remember with
nostalgia. Actually, before that era the
show was probably dominated by hardware
providers. And I think in a way now
the excitement about the show is once
again more about technology.
CFAX: Has the Cable Connection
concept of combining events into
one week in the spring and fall
worked?
GB: I think it's worked partially. There's
going to be a Diversity Week in New
York again, so we've changed from just
the two weeks. You try things and you
adjust as you need to. But some of the
other things, we're much better off as
an industry having done what we've
done. I think this particular show and
this particular week have provided a
big tent for all the groups meeting this
week, whether it's WICT, CableLabs,
CTAM. It's a more effi cient way to do it
than spreading it throughout the year.
MB: We certainly had a few bumps in
the road, but I think it's working. I think it's
dealing with some of the main concerns
that we had as an industry, which were
too many events, too many people
traveling and too many different places for
events. Hopefully we have a better chance
of getting the people who are really important,
who really matter, to the important
events during the course of the year.
A cable journalist since 1996 and a
frequent blogger, Steve Donohue fi shes
for striped bass and bluefi sh in the
waters surrounding New York.
cablefaxmag.com
15
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Cablefax The Magazine - May 2010

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