Yesterday's opening session of The Cable Show 2010 featured a line up of cable heavy hitters in free-flowing discussion across a wide variety of topics. Starting with the FCC's recent decision to pursue reclassification of ISPs under Title II, moderator Tyler Mathisen questioned the CEOs about regulations, business models, consumer interests, and the future.
When questioned about the FCC's pursuit of Title II, Time Warner Cable's Glenn Britt and Cox's Pat Esser both spoke to the success of broadband and suggested the FCC would be wise to keep interference to an absolute minimum. The talk quickly turned to business models – both the delivery of products across different media, as well as how the convergence of media may result in changes to the pricing models. To the former, Britt suggested operators should avoid thinking of every new screen as a different business, and instead focus on the industry's true business – telling a great story via video – and thinking of new ways to meet that business goal regardless of platform. On pricing, Esser suggested there will be open models, subscription models and transactional models, and said the goal of the operator is to facilitate them all, in a way that is easy for consumers.
The discussion of pricing led to a brief discussion of retransmission consent. Both the programmers and the operators seemed largely unconcerned and said the process would get fixed. However, Viacom's Philippe Dauman did note that despite the sometimes contentious negotiations, the net result to consumers is positive. Dauman noted that the increase in fees gets reinvested into new channels, better programing, and more delivery options. One area where all sides seemed to agree is the role of sports and gaming as drivers of 3D television. Asked what the adoption of 3D television would look like, Pat Esser suggested that youth and gaming would be key drivers. David Zaslav from Discovery Networks noted the programmers push to launch the first 24 hour 3D channel as a driver. Kevin Tsujihara of Warner Bros. spoke of the role of CE manufacturers, and specifically cited studies that indicate consumers are refreshing devices more frequently. That, he argued, should shorten the amount of time 3D would take for adoption – especially as opposed to HD. Britt used the mention of hi-def to note that it took 20 years for high-definition television to take off. He suggested that the migration to 3D will be guided by consumers, and said operators need to be sure to let them drive the process.
For additional coverage of this session, see The Cable Show blog.