The Cable Show 2009 Preview
Cable Takes Me There
The Cable Show 2009 -- Cable Takes Me There is set for April 1 to 3 in Washington at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. The event will be part of the inaugural Cable Connections Week, set to run from April 1 to 7.

To help attendees get the full experience of broadband, Broadband Nation will offer "a dazzling immersion" into the broadband life, offering a hands-on view of how cable-delivered broadband services are bringing new possibilities to the country and the world, according to show organizers.

The conference portion of the show will cover the industry, including business services, new technology, programming and public policy. CTAM is lending its expertise to the show, particularly the business-service section of the session lineup.

This year, the cable industry's "CableCares" community-service initiative will focus on the needs of local schools in the D.C. area as well as local charities. To help raise money, the Battle of the Bands event will feature musicians from cable companies, networks, suppliers and the media.

In terms of the exhibit floor, the event will span more than 200,000 square feet of floor space.

In anticipation of the conference, we are pleased to offer CTAM SmartBrief subscribers a glimpse into how the conference topics relate to the latest news in your industry. If CTAM SmartBrief is not arriving in your inbox daily and you find our preview of The Cable Show 2009 useful, we urge you to sign up for our timely e-newsletter. CTAM SmartBrief delivers the stories making news in your profession directly to your inbox -- for FREE.

Business Services

Small cablers remain committed to business growth
Many small and midsize cable providers aren't letting the dour economy slow down their growth strategies, according to this report. Some, such as Massillon Cable and Troy Cablevision, still are investing aggressively in the hopes of staving off competition and finding new subscribers for their TV, broadband and telephony services. Multichannel News (3/2)

• Economic Elixir: Growing Cable's Business Services Share: Produced in partnership with CTAM, this session will have corporate and field-level MSO executives address business-customer requirements, describe how to achieve them and offer ideas about maintaining customer satisfaction and receptivity to new business services. Executives from Cox Communications Northern Virginia, Bresnan Communications, Time Warner Cable Business Class and Comcast Cable Communications will participate in the discussion. Find out more.

Study: 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches will be a bright spot
The overall market for Ethernet switches will fall 10% in the first quarter of this year, according to a forecast from Dell'Oro Group. Despite that bad news, there was one area of optimism in the report: Shipments of 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches are expected to be higher. Network World (3/10) Light Reading (3/11)

• Plugged In: Ethernet's Role in Driving Business Services Market Share: Produced in partnership with CTAM, this session will feature an Ethernet expert who will provide the framework for the discussion, followed by an industry-analyst perspective on the market opportunity, and a cable commercial-market customer who has made the switch to Ethernet connectivity. Find out more.

New Technology

Canoe sorts out options for ITV
Canoe Ventures has announced that a technical trial of cable-viewer voting was successful that and it will soon give programmers details on building two classes of interactive applications, reports Multichannel News. Canoe, which was created last year by the six largest U.S. cable operators, hopes to launch the initial ITV product before the end of the year. Multichannel News (2/25)

• A New Way There: Cable's Interactive Agenda: This session will explore where tru2way and EBIF deployments stand, what MSOs are looking for in new applications, and what business models are supporting cable's new interactive era. Find out more.

Programming

Q-and-A: Rentrak talks TV-viewing patterns
Sandra Kilbridge, Rentrak's vice president of operations, AMI Division, talks with Multichannel News about its planned TV Essentials product trials with Charter Communications and how the trial will help flesh out how the product can help local ad sales and still protect the privacy of users. Multichannel News (3/9)

• Online, On Demand & On TV: Understanding the New Field of Television: This session will offer an early read on how strategies are being shaped and how customers are responding as a confluence of online video, VOD and traditional television hits the screen. Find out more.

Public Policy

Study: DOCSIS 3.0 will help attract broadband stimulus funds
With the latest DOCSIS 3.0 technology as part of its arsenal, the cable industry will be offering significantly faster Internet access to all of its subscribers by 2013, according to a study by Pike & Fischer. The report went on to say that DOCSIS 3.0-powered broadband will "garner a lot of support from government officials distributing funds from the economic-stimulus package." Broadcasting & Cable (3/10)

Where Policies Meet Packets: Government's Role in the Broadband Progression:
This session, grown out of the presence of broadband grants and loans within the U.S. economic-stimulus program, will feature representatives from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Rural Utilities Service and the FCC as they share perspectives and projections about the future role of government as it affects the broadband marketplace. Find out more.

Canadian cablers cry foul, challenge Internet levy law
A proposal to enact an Internet levy law is being challenged as unlawful by Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications. Rogers Vice Chairman Phil Lind said Internet providers "are pipes, not broadcasters," asserting that they are not therefore required to provide support as TV networks do for programming delivered in Canada. The Globe and Mail (Toronto) (3/11)

Gearing up for D.C.

The Cable Show 2009 conference resources
Learn more about conference sessions.
View the floor plan.
See who's speaking and when.
Get a closer look at Broadband Nation.
Find out more about CableCares.
Get ready for "Battle of the Bands."
Register for the event.

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