Cable Tech Talk

The Steering Committee for the unprecedented Set-Top Box Energy Conservation Agreement that NCTA and CEA announced last December convened its second meeting in Denver last Friday to continue implementation of the significant commitments that will lead to annual energy savings of $1.5 billion for American consumers.  All of the Agreement Signatory companies participated in the meeting: Comcast, DIRECTV, DISH Network, Time Warner Cable, Cox, Verizon, Charter, AT&T, Cablevision, Bright House Networks and CenturyLink, and manufacturers Cisco, ARRIS, and EchoStar Technologies.

The Committee continued its work on developing more aggressive energy efficiency targets for next generation set-top boxes.

This year’s The Cable Show is shaping up to be a show of “firsts.” It’s the first year we’ll be hosting Hiring our Heroes, a job fair for veterans and their families. It’s also the first year cable TV show producers will be sitting on General Session panels. And it’s the very first year we’re promoting Steps Ahead, a pedometer challenge.

In partnership with Walker Tracker, Steps Ahead is a fun way to keep track of how many steps you’ve taken and how many miles you’ve walked each day during The Cable Show. Once the show is over, you’ll be able to see what your total mileage was and how you stack up against everyone else keeping track. There’s no prize for walking the most – it’s all in good fun. But a little competition amongst friends never hurt!

If the first rule of real-estate is “location,” the second must be “must actually exist.”

But ignoring that second rule, here’s a list of fictional cable towns we’d seriously consider if we were moving.

Most people don’t think about the technology that delivers cable service to their home. The goal is, after all, for customers to be able to relax and just enjoy the content. But cable technology is pretty interesting, especially as it relates to energy efficiency. There are millions of set-top boxes and cable modems in America – making sure they consume as little power as possible while still doing everything we need them to do is a key challenge in ensuring cable technology remains a welcome addition in the connected home.

The important mission of making better cable tech is the responsibility of an organization called CableLabs. In many ways, cable technology begins and ends with CableLabs. They’re cable’s R&D consortium that, among many contributions, is responsible for developing high-speed DOCSIS cable modems, digital voice services and the advanced video distribution systems we utilize every time we use cable.