Newsroom Category: Article

Cybersecurity Awareness Month a Nod to Everyone's Role in a Safe Internet

As National Cybersecurity Awareness Month comes to a close, we wanted to reflect on some of the more significant cybersecurity accomplishments of the cable industry both during this month and in general. As the nation’s leading provider of broadband, cable companies have been at the forefront of developing and implementing best practices for identifying and addressing cybersecurity risks. The nature of networks makes cybersecurity a problem that spans the globe. From startups to the Internet’s largest corporations, ensuring products and services are secure is a shared responsibility. Towards

Multi-Gig Broadband Over Existing Networks? Absolutely!

In demonstrations this past September, CableLabs, the cable industry’s non-profit research and development organization, showed how existing networks are capable of downstream speeds of 4.6 Gbps and upstream speeds of 800 Mbps. So to the question, “Can cable networks scale and compete with next-gen fiber networks?” the answer is a resounding YES. And it’s being done through the use of the DOCSIS 3.1 technology platform (also known under its friendlier name, Gigasphere). The DOCSIS 3.1 technology can deliver multi-gig speeds over existing broadband networks. The CableLabs demonstration wasn’t

Energy Management Standards in the Works for Cable Operators

We’ve all benefited from the great speed of today’s technological advancements. Television, phones, tablets and the Internet of Things have given us security, convenience and connectivity to our everyday necessities–from getting in touch with someone instantly to receiving and watching the latest news to enjoying smart homes. But a lot rides on how much energy these essentials and networks burn up. To reduce the environmental impact and the costs that come with power consumption, steps are being taken throughout the industry to conserve energy and to address energy holistically by spreading

Celebrating "The Language of America"

Can you imagine a world without free speech? While many Americans are proud of their First Amendment, it’s a safe bet that many of us take for granted the free speech that constitutional Amendment ensures. Imagine a world in which authors, bloggers, script writers, producers, directors, poets, songwriters, and other creators of content had to censor the expression of their thoughts, or could be held liable by some governing body for thinking that might be inconsistent with that of the governing class. Imagine the potential impact of speech censorship on your own behavior, each time you

Happy Back to the Future Day! We May Not Have Hoverboards, But We've Got Really Fast Internet

It’s Back to the Future Day! In Back to the Future Part II, our hero Marty McFly transports to the future – specifically to October 21st, 2015 – to save his children and stop his nemesis Biff Tannen from permanently disrupting the space-time continuum. This after he saved his parents and thus himself in Back to the Future Part I by going back in time to 1955 and basically inventing rock and roll. Shudder to think what would happen if Marty McFly had never been born or even worse, if Biff Tannen were allowed to profit off of an out-of-time sports almanac. Like all science fiction, part of the

How CISA Can Help Protect Personal Data, Internet Infrastructure, and Businesses

After months of discussion and hard work, the Senate appears set to move forward this week with the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 (commonly known as CISA). As a member of the Protecting America’s Cyber Networks Coalition, we were proud to sign and submit a letter yesterday supporting CISA and committing ourselves to working with lawmakers to get cybersecurity information-sharing legislation quickly enacted. You can read that letter here. For more on the specifics of CISA and where NCTA stands on this bill, we refer you to the blog we wrote a few months ago. But in short, CISA

Teaching Kids How to Navigate our Digital World

You hear a lot these days about Generation Z, the kids who were practically born with an iPhone in their hands, and those who can’t fathom why some computers or screens won’t swipe right or respond with the mere touch of their finger. It’s easy to assume that kids these days know technology better than most of us adults, but do they know about the dangers that can come with posting their pictures on Snapchat? Or what could happen if they click on a link in an email they got from a stranger? Sadly, often times they don’t. To help fill in this gap, Cable Impacts has partnered with PopSugar Mom

NCTA Innovation Center Brings Technology Alive

Most of us rely on cable in one way or another in our daily lives, whether its the buzzworthy and award-winning programming that we enjoy or the fast broadband speeds that connect us to the rest of the world. But we don’t always associate outdoor Wi-Fi hotspots with our home broadband connection, or realize that the smart door locks at our house are enabled by cable’s network. That is why we created the NCTA Innovation Center, a hands-on showcase where visitors get to experience some of the advanced products and entertainment that cable delivers to American consumers. Home Automation: On the

Zombies Alive and Well on AMC

This Columbus Day weekend was a little more intense than usual. AMC’s The Walking Dead, also known as the most watched cable show in history, premiered its sixth season on Sunday night, to the anticipation and suspense of 14.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen, and upstaging the Giants v. 49ers game, as some early reports indicate. Fans tuned in and made room in their schedules for the zombie apocalypse, hoping to catch the show live at a gathering with friends or at least soon after its release. Nielsen’s Twitter TV ratings also say a lot about live TV viewership in this day and age. With