Gigabit Gains Popularity with American Consumers
With 80 percent of U.S. homes now having access to internet service offering speeds of 1 gigabit per second, American internet networks are continually reaching new heights. The good news is that consumers say they want to go along for the ride and the majority are now looking forward to joining the gigabit movement. That’s according to a recent Morning Consult survey which reports that over half of Americans today (55 percent) say they are interested in subscribing to gigabit speed internet service. The same survey asked consumers about the attributes they see important for future internet
Live TV Still the Biggest Draw for Younger Viewers, New Study Shows
It's no secret that younger generations today turn to their digital devices to help them in almost every aspect of their lives, and media and entertainment are no different. People can watch TV on their phones while on the subway, or catch up on an episode while waiting at the airport. But what's fascinating is that despite this new flexibility that technology and TV networks have provided in recent years, millennials still very much tune into live TV. According to Nielsen's first quarterly Content Ratings Benchmarks report, 81 percent of people in the 18-34 demographic who consume content
Is a Gigabit the Same as a Gigabyte?
Gigabit. Gigabyte. You've heard and seen these words before, but do you really know what they mean? Below is a quick crash course on bits and bytes, and what they mean for consumers. This is especially helpful as 10G—the industry's initiative to bring 10 gigabit speeds to American households and businesses—gets closer to becoming reality. The best place to start is explaining the difference between gigabit and gigabyte, or, in more rudimentary terms, bit and byte. A bit measures data transfer rates over a network. For example, a gigabit connection transmits data at one billion bits per second
Game of Thrones By The Numbers
Millions of people will tune into HBO this Sunday to watch the final season premiere of Game of Thrones. The massively successful series has inspired a concert tour, countless podcasts, and is even credited with increasing tourism to filming locations like Croatia and Iceland. After eight years, 73 episodes, and approximately 4,250 minutes of game-changing action, the song of ice and fire will finally go quiet. With the end on the horizon, let’s take a look at all the ways we can measure the Thrones impact. 128 The total number of Emmy nominations the show has received since it premiered in
How the T. Howard Foundation is Diversifying the Media & Entertainment Industry
Spring is in full swing but summer is just around the corner, and by next month, many college students around the country will embark on internships that prepare them for the workforce. The T. Howard Foundation, which began in 1993, works year-round to recruit and place underrepresented and diverse college students in internships throughout the media and entertainment industry. The goal of the foundation is to increase diversity within the industry, and their programs are doing just that through internship placement, a talent development program for recruits and program alumni, and assisting
America's Future Looks Like 10G
"The destiny of our economy and the destiny of our future is heavily rooted in how successful we are as a technological empire, as an information economy, and one that can harvest the forces of technology and physics to its greatest benefit," said NCTA President & CEO Michael Powell earlier this year. Powell moderated a panel at CES in January that discussed the industry's 10G announcement, and the conversation around 10G continues this year to fuel the industry's direction towards faster internet speeds and robust broadband networks that will enable even more innovative products and services
Poll: Americans Say Fast Internet is Key to the Economy
The ripple effect of a powerful broadband connection is immeasurable when it comes to how internet connectivity positively impacts almost every facet of life in America, from healthcare to education to business to entertainment to personal connections. What's even more incredible is how it affects the U.S. economy, not just nationally but locally as well. As cable operators invest billions of dollars annually to upgrade and expand their networks, cities and towns all over the country benefit from business growth, a diverse workforce and connected consumers—whether it's a small village in
Video: NCTA President & CEO Michael Powell Talks with CNBC about Facebook's Call for Increased Regulation
Last weekend in a Washington Post op-ed piece, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg called for stronger government regulations in four areas: harmful content, election integrity, privacy, and data portability. Facebook has been under fire for quite some time now for data breaches, how it collects and uses customer data, its role in spreading misinformation, and multiple privacy scandals. Yesterday, NCTA President & CEO Michael Powell appeared on CNBC to weigh in on the conversation and offered insights into Facebook's recent efforts in this space, what Zuckerberg's request might mean for policymakers
NCTA President & CEO Michael Powell on C-SPAN's The Communicators
NCTA President & CEO Michael Powell sat down with C-SPAN's The Communicators this week to discuss the relationship between the cable industry and "big tech" in Washington, and how technology companies operate differently from cable businesses. "The gold for them is not the service. The gold for them is the data the service produces," Powell told The Washington Post's Cat Zakrzewski and C-SPAN's Peter Slen. For the full conversation, stream the interview below. The episode will also air on C-SPAN tomorrow, March 30 at 6:30pm ET, and on C-SPAN2 on April 1 at 8:00am and 8:00pm ET
The Shrinking Cost of a Megabit
Data. It’s at the heart of our daily lives and the modern economy. More data means higher quality streaming movies, it means richer more immersive online games, it means stronger long-distance relationships with loved ones, but it also means busier networks. In fact, Cisco predicts that in the U.S. alone, internet traffic will triple by 2022. That’s why earlier this year the global cable industry announced the 10G initiative—a powerful technology platform that will deliver 10 gigabit speeds to consumer homes in the coming years. That means networks will be ready for data-intensive services