War Games in Miami Beach

Cable World,  Jan 20, 2003  

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Byline: ANTHONY CRUPI

As metaphors go, you'd be hard-pressed to top the sweeping marble staircase in the lobby of Miami Beach's Fontainebleau Hotel. A promenade that functions as the architectural equivalent of the old Cadillac tail fins, the grandiose steps arch high above the floor, ending in what was once a modest cloakroom. Architect Morris Lapidus designed the "stairway to nowhere" so that dinner guests could parade down to the bemusement of the lobby crowd.

No one is saying that this year's SCTE Conference on Emerging Technologies at the Fontainebleau was a pointless endeavor. It's the sense of mystery the staircase embodies, of lost eras and new directions - the cloakroom is now a security office - that jibes with where cable is right now.

Paul Kagan trotted out a few metaphors of his own in his keynote address. The majordomo of Kagan World Media echoed the Gettysburg Address, telling the assembled throng that "broadband of the people, by the people and for the people will not vanish from the Earth." Kagan said with no little gravity that cable is embroiled "in a war" and likened the floor of this month's Consumer Electronics Show to a "battlefield."

Kagan went on to sketch the cable continuum with broad strokes, drawing up a pyramidal timeline of the industry that looked as though it was developed with Maslow's hierarchy of needs in mind. "I use a pyramid because it's a symbol of power," Kagan explained. "As you can see, from basic cable at the bottom [1948], each succeeding tier of service provides incremental revenue." As the layers of the pyramid narrowed toward the apex - addressable decoders up through perpetual interactive TV - they came to an abrupt halt at the top. "The top of the pyramid is blank because I've never known this business to stop developing," Kagan explained.

Ensuing conversation focused on how cable can best equip itself to make a run at the summit. Speaking on the topic of next-generation set-top boxes, Charter Communications EVP and CTO Steve Silva was blunt in his assessment of the work that must be carried out. "We need to embrace retail," Silva said.

Among the first obstacles are conditional access (CA) barriers. Silva noted that there are over 25 CA initiatives in play. He stumped for adopting OCAP specs, adding that cable "has always had the right ideas, but has been too slow to roll them out."

As sanguine as the overall mood was, some cable sages pointed out that the enemy was all around, and that DBS isn't the only big gun on the other side of the trench. "The real battle lies in the marbled halls of federal and state legislatures," said Charter corporate VP James Rice. "Every time I read regulatory rags like TR Weekly, I can hear the nails going in the jail they're building around me. They have the power and the capabilities to put us out of business."

John Clark, SCTE's president and CEO, had a brighter outlook. "Cable is a forever business," he said, leaving one with the impression that perhaps that staircase to nowhere leads to a promising someplace.

THE NEXT QUESTION:

*Will an accord to whittle down the number of CA specs be reached this year?

COPYRIGHT 2003 Access Intelligence, LLC
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning