VOD, HIGH-SPEED DATA, VOICE KEYS TO CABLE FUTURE, OPERATORS SAY
ANAHEIM -- Some of country’s leading cable operators expressed optimism that services that satellite couldn’t deliver -- video-on-demand (VoD), subscription VoD, interactivity, high-speed data and telephony -- would solidify cable’s relationship with current customers and bring many defectors to satellite back into fold. Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt, AT&T Broadband CEO Bill Schleyer and Charter CEO Carl Vogel spoke at Western Cable Show here. Britt brushed aside question on whether AOL-Time Warner was interested in acquiring AT&T Broadband, which has been in play since Comcast earlier this year made unsolicited $44.5 billion bid, which was rejected. Schleyer didn’t, nor would AT&T Broadband Gen. Counsel Rick Bailey, on later panel.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
Asked about growing market share of DBS and cut-rate prices being offered to cable customers to switch, executives said EchoStar and DirecTV were formidable competitors in short run, but over time even merged EchoStar-DirecTV wouldn’t be able to overcome quality and quantity of services cable could offer. Said Vogel: “We have the best grocery cart… I think we find ourselves in an enviable position.” Schleyer said “we have a much better mousetrap,” but cable must put premium on customer service if it’s to compete effectively. Vogel also said: “The rate game is over,” meaning that cable operators no longer could continue to raise rates without offering justification to consumer who could just as easily buy satellite dish. AT&T recently announced 5.4% rate increase, but Schleyer complained that cable companies were becoming “collection agency for the programmers,” blaming increase on rising costs for content. “We have to figure out a new model,” he said. “This is going to get ugly.”
On impact of Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and recession, cable operators generally were in agreement that people were more apt to stay home and watch movie on cable than go to movies, where they likely would spend upwards of $30 for single night’s entertainment. “In tough times, people tend to go to cable,” Britt said.
Terrorist attacks led govt. regulators to view facilities-based competitors more favorably, seeing redundancy of multiple platforms as offering backup in case of emergency, NCTA Pres. Robert Sachs said. He said Congress sought to spur broadband investment in its stimulus package. However, members of another panel heavily criticized govt. efforts to keep cable news and broadcasters from showing videotape of Osama bin Laden. While praising National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice’s performance overall, TViFusion CEO Jeffrey Reiss said Rice was wrong to ask news executives to keep videotape away from viewers. Bush Administration’s rationalization at time was that bin Laden could be using those videotaped messages to communicate through hand signals or other means with his operatives around world. Reiss said “I think it’s extremely dangerous for the government to start controlling broadcast media or journalists. We need to know and understand in English what is being said in Arabic behind our backs.” -- Brigitte Greenberg
Western Show Notebook…
While recording video history for Cable Center at special Western Cable Show luncheon, Ted Turner surprised attendees by saying cable industry, as its pioneers know it, soon would be extinct: “The thing about the cable industry, most of us were here at the beginning, and we're going to be here at the end, too. And the end game is just about here. Within the next year, there will only be 2 cable operators and one satellite operator, basically, and the game will be over because like in Monopoly, when you own everything on the board and there is nobody else left to pay rent -- you win. It’s so sad. I was walking the convention floor and it was like Kosovo or Afghanistan. Looking at the people displaying their wares, there’s very little left. Right now, AT&T is the biggest cable operator and they are probably going to disappear within the next year,” leaving cable to “be part of a huge telecommunications industry. But then it won’t be cable anymore.”
----
FamilyNet said it signed carriage agreement with programming subsidiary of AT&T Broadband, allowing AT&T cable unit to offer cable channel to its more than 13 million subscribers. FamilyNet describes itself as “wholesome, values-based” programming.
----
OpenTV signed agreement with Japan’s largest MSO, Jupiter Telecommunications, to develop Japan’s first commercial, interactive TV (iTV) service. Jupiter has more than 1 million subscribers in Japan.
----
TechTV said it increased its domestic subscriber base more than 20% in one year. Cable channel, which covers technology information, news and entertainment, recently signed carriage agreements with Cablevision and Cable One. TechTV now is available in 28 million households.
----
PrediWave introduced its video-on-demand (VoD) service that doesn’t designate stream bandwidth to individual consumers who order movies, but instead to content itself. PrediWave system of delivering packets of information uses one stream of bandwidth per piece of content. PrediWave also announced $100 million deal with Southeast TV Network to provide set-top boxes over one-way network for initial 200,000 customers in Fujian Province, China. Network is expected to begin rolling out PrediWave delivery system in March 2002.
----
Cable Center inducted 7 industry leaders into its Hall of Fame: Joseph Collins, former Time Warner Cable CEO; Ben Conroy, former NCTA chmn. who founded GenCoE and Communications Properties Inc.; Burt Harris, founder of Harriscope Cable; Kay Koplovitz, chmn. of Broadway TV Network and former USA CEO; Bob Miron, CEO of Advance/Newhouse Communications who also is former chmn. of NCTA; John Rigas, founder of Adelphia Communications; and former Scientific-Atlanta Pres. Sidney Topol.