My Back Pages: Summer Travels…

Cable World, July 11, 2005

By Paul S. Maxwell

We're in the cable business...so we must be somewhere else.

At least that's how it used to be. Now, we don't go to quite so many places. And the folks in the systems don't have as many choices as they once did.

We did go to San Antonio for Cable-Tec Expo...good show, too.

And, our tickets are booked for the next couple...

Like Newport for NECTA.

Philadelphia for CTAM.

In July.

Wonder why it is we're going to Philadelphia? Anybody have any idea why we'd go there? Suppose Stamford has a convention center, too? Wouldn't Iceland make more sense? Cooler, anyway.

Personally, I like Rhode Island. And Newport (prettier than Providence). Some nice cottages there.

But what I really like about NECTA--that stands for "New England Cable and Telecommunications Association"--is the fact that it is a regional cable show with folks from real cable systems instead of just headquarters. NECTA, with its annual clambake, was once the summer delight on the circuit of cable TV state and regional trade shows.

That disappeared.

Consolidated out of sight.

Can't let cable executives travel as much and/or be out of the office as much.

Don't want them polluted by other ways of doing things, I suppose.

No Texas Show.

No Western Show.

Some smaller events still around like Northwest and Mid-America and Great Lakes and Pennsylvania (where, if anyone still remembers, it all got started). Tabletops and a few folks.

Used to be real exhibits and real exchanges of information.

Can't have that.

Buying decisions are centralized.

Processes and people are standardized.

The business has changed.

And, despite what seems like nostalgic whimpering, that's a good thing. We don't just deliver retransmitted video signals. We deliver a communications lifestyle now.

And that requires a different way of looking at the world.

Which is why the CTAM, SCTE, NCTA and other national meetings (like the CableFAX Leaders Retreat) really count now.

We've all got to be on the same page!

Still, I'll be in Newport because I really like to feel the local pulse of cable with real cable system personnel.

Although, frankly, last year there was tough...getting thrown off one of the 12-meter racing yachts was quite humiliating!

Meanwhile, the fight against our looming competition from telephone companies continues apace...

Their attempts to dodge the local franchise requirements--in effect trying to redline the communications world--needs to be stopped in every state.

Which is why I believe every state association needs to exist (and if it is moribund, needs to be resurrected ASAP!) and must continue to lobby at the local, state and national (via its own representatives and senators) level.

Cable will need that help as the Telecommunications Act is readdressed in the upcoming Congresses. Our guys in Washington at the NCTA are doing a good job. But Kyle McSlarrow (off to a solid start) and company cannot do it all by themselves...

We need every cable operator helping out...whether part of a big conglomerate or an independent...it is time to speak with one voice!

Cable's voice.

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