Are You Enjoying March Madness the Right Way?
You’ve broken out the brackets and dialed the trash talk to eleven because as of yesterday, you’re in full March Madness swing. In years long past all of this meant rushing home or out to the bar to catch big games. More recently, it’s meant loading up your DVR with piles of games and zooming through them as quickly as possible before going to bed. But this year, streaming TV users will be able to watch in whole new ways. First, there’s the all new NCAA March Madness Live app built by the NCAA, Turner Sports, and CBS, which is available on all of the major streaming platforms. NCAA says, “NCAA
Is SXSW Becoming an Un-Digital Experience?
We’ve reached a point in conference and event culture where we no longer need to declare full digital integration. It’s assumed there will be a hashtag, it’s assumed there will be an app, and it’s assumed there will be a live stream. Rightfully so as these pieces have long since transitioned from novelty, to accent, and finally to necessity. But where does that leave SXSW, an event that purportedly sits on the cutting edge of connected technology? An event aimed at serving the creators and connectors of the 21st century? The answer is right back to the beginning. SXSW can no longer be the home
CEO Rocco Commisso on Mediacom’s 20-Year Success
Twenty years ago, Mediacom founder Rocco Commisso had a vision: to build a company that would provide customers in smaller markets and rural communities with the same level of cable and telecommunications services that their counterparts in the big cities enjoyed. Fast forward through two decades, 22 acquisitions, the Internet surge, and 600,000 miles of fiber, and Mediacom, the nation’s 8th largest cable operator, now serves over 1.3 million customers in 1,500 communities across 22 states, primarily in the Midwestern and Southeastern regions of the United States. Today, the company Commisso
Why We Go to SXSW
Once again, NCTA is attending SXSW. We go because we know that one of our most important roles is to find better, more effective ways to tell the story of America’s Internet and television innovators. SXSW is a unique convergence of creative and professional ideas that, in many ways, sets the tone for how the entire digital industry talks about itself. More than that, SXSW establishes how technology industries like ours contribute to the larger conversation of innovation, art, technology, and entertainment. This is a conversation we can’t miss. America’s ISPs have played a crucial role in
The Rise of the Virtual Reality Social Network
“Imagine being able to sit in front of a campfire and hang out with friends anytime you want. Or being able to watch a movie in a private theatre with your friends anytime you want.” That’s what Mark Zuckerberg posed in front of the Mobile World Congress last month as he discussed the future of Facebook and his plans to delve into virtual reality. Well, as it turns out, you can do all of that now, and you don’t necessarily need to go through costly hoops and high-end equipment to experience it. Mobile VR is making headway worldwide and game developers have been hard at work as they’ve taken
WICT Head Maria Brennan Talks on the Upward Trajectory for Women in Cable
With Women’s History Month underway and the celebration of International Women’s Day occurring today, we decided to check in with Maria Brennan, the president and CEO of Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT), to see how women are faring in the industry and to find out how far we have to go to balance out the gender ranks at the top. Throughout our conversation, one thing seemed to stand out– that while it’s good to celebrate women’s achievements and contributions to the economy and society, it’s just as important to actually work on coming up with solutions that will move women into roles
Better Technology Is Leading to Lower Costs
Imagine waking up tomorrow and your Internet connection reverted back to the year 2004, when average download speeds were in the single digits. Remember that? No doubt that you would be frustrated waiting 10 minutes or more for a video to download. And the near-total lack of live video streaming would not only provide few options but a frustrating and jittery experience. This lookback demonstrates how broadband speeds – and Internet experiences – have increased tremendously and rapidly. As the graphic below indicates, advances in network technology over the past decade have not only
[VIDEO] Behind the Scenes of a Presidential Primary
It’s Super Tuesday. The nation is sitting on the edge of its collective seat waiting to find out who will run in the upcoming Presidential election. The act of delivering televised coverage of this near-national political events is an extraordinary challenge, but the 24 hour news networks that cover it make it look easy. We should know – we were lucky enough to see it all unfold for ourselves when we followed C-SPAN earlier in February as they covered the New Hampshire Primary. With video crew in tow, we joined C-SPAN hoping to capture the story of how a Presidential Primary is covered by a
How People Watch Television Today
Do you remember last fall, when the season premieres of some of our favorite shows beckoned for us to find out what would happen next after the previous season’s cliffhanger? Do you remember anxiously trying to get home in time for the start of it, or finding ways to rearrange your schedule around it? Chances are, you didn’t even sweat it. According to Adobe Digital Index’s “Q4 Digital Video Benchmark” report, overall growth in TV Everywhere video viewing doubled year-over-year. In other words, people are enjoying their freedom to watch television on their own terms, whenever and wherever they
Spotlight: Mediacom Is Bringing a Rural School In Alabama Up to Speed
For those who live and work in a metropolitan area, you probably don’t think twice when others around you stream videos, download hundreds of pages worth of documents, and share large amounts of data with others near and far. Living in or near a densely populated city has its advantages, and one of them is easy access to high-speed internet. But what about those far-reaching places that aren’t as easy to connect? How do they access fast broadband in a world that depends on constant connectivity? Mediacom, an Internet, phone and TV provider based in New York, has been a staple in rural America