I can’t wait to see what you all come up with next year.
This was a busy year. We could easily have expanded our annual “Broadband 50” to a Broadband 100 of trends, technologies, people and events that helped define the broadband market in 2009 and, in most instances, are likely to remain pertinent factors 
in the coming year, as well.
Through the few years leading up to about 2006, the items in our Broadband 50 lists were fairly consistent. “Bandwidth” topped the list of concerns several BB50s in a row.
Since then, growing competition; an economy we like to describe as “challenging” (isn’t that so much more refined a word than “recession”?); the beginnings of real, actual convergence; and other factors have been rendering things much less predictable.
One thing that remains predictable is that communications services are indispensable when they’re not critical, and that home entertainment services will always be popular. It’s so obvious that even Wall Street analysts, who tend to ignore the forest for the minutiae, are beginning to notice – and to value cable stocks accordingly. Or so we hear.
By my count, about 20 percent of this year’s BB50 entries weren’t even candidates for previous lists, let alone on them.
That speaks to the ingenuity of the people in this industry. I can’t wait to see what you all come up with next year.
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You’ll notice that CED is a little later in your mailbox this month than you’re accustomed to. We’re trying something different this time around, experimenting with the form and format of CED. Officially, we’re combining the November and December print issues. As a matter of practice, we’ll have this one last print edition this year – the one you’re holding in your hands – and we’ll also have a special online-only issue in December.
Please let us know your thoughts on both. We’ll resume regular print editions with our January issue and CED’s annual “Person of the Year” feature.
Look for issues of CED at the CES show.
