In Los Angeles, the venerable ET was entirely subsumed.
The Cable Show, once upon a time devoted almost exclusively to programming concerns, is now equally about the technology, leading to the occasional grumble that the show has been overrun by vendors. Well, yes. In fact, The Cable Show would be a far-diminished spectacle without the engineers.
That was especially the case in Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago, where the programmers seemed almost sedate. Disney even seemed like it was trying to be unobtrusive. Meanwhile, the technology booths were jumping with EBIF, D3, 3-D and more.
Odd then – Cable Connection in LA marked the second iteration of the forced merger of The Cable Show and the SCTE Conference on Emerging Technologies (ET). Despite at least half of the excitement at the recent show being generated by technologists, the venerable ET was entirely subsumed.
Or, to be less diplomatic: dead. A few folks insist that ET lives on, in the form of The Cable Show’s Spring Technical Forum. But only a few of those sessions were “produced in partnership with the SCTE.” The NCTA always had some technical sessions anyway. So why pretend any longer?
ET was pretty much the only event the cable industry had that was purely technical, had open attendance and was largely free from the distractions inherent in showfloor commotion. It would be impossible to calculate the ROI on a quiet forum for a free flow of ideas, but on the other hand, only a fool would dismiss the value. Show consolidation certainly has much to recommend it, but when it comes to ET, this experiment failed.
Interestingly, because cable’s “Powers That Be” forced a show consolidation, the number of shows in which cable will be compelled to participate is going to increase again. Next January, CES is going to host a Telecom Pavilion, where it will feature “the latest in 3G/4G, broadband, content, copper- and fiber-based networks, fixed-mobile convergence, IPTV, IMS, triple play, quad play, security and VoIP.”
CES is, of course, a barely controlled circus. But there you go. Literally.
