Registration & Breakfast

Introduction: The Big Picture

As they have for decades, cable operators still dominate the pay TV market. But the competitive challenges to their rule are multiplying and intensifying. In just the past year, DirecTV, Verizon Communications, and Dish Network have all improved their competitive positioning by beaming more than 100 national HDTV channels to consumers. Along with AT&T, these big satellite and telco TV providers have also introduced massive new VoD offerings, launched mobile video services, and added dozens of niche digital channels to their programming lineups. Plus, the popularity of Internet-fed video continues to soar. In this overview session, we lay out the growing competitive stakes as the cable industry counters with its own advanced video technologies, products, and services.

Keynote I: A Whole New World: Steve Necessary, VP Video Product Development & Support, Cox Communications

Striving to boost their competitive posture, cable operators are trying out a myriad of new video technologies, systems, and services to lure new customers and retain their existing ones. In this keynote session, Steve Necessary, VP of Video Product Development and Support for Cox Communications, will spell out Cox’s strategy for investing in next-gen video systems and services, including 1-GHz spectrum, SDV technology, HDTV, MPEG-4 compression, low-cost digital set-top boxes, tru2way, EBIF, fiber extensions, advanced MPEG-2 compression, HD VoD, and time-shifted services. Necessary will also address cable's long-awaited migration to all-digital delivery.

Panel I: Interacting With ITV

With the July 1 deadline for getting digital headends ready for tru2way rapidly approaching for five of the nation’s largest MSOs, this panel will address the cable industry's ambitious push to deploy cable-ready, interactive digital TV sets and set-tops for the huge, hotly contested consumer retail market. Cable operators, equipment suppliers, retail executives, and other experts will discuss the industry's early experience with both CableLabs's new tru2way platform, formerly known as OpenCable, and EBIF. In particular, they will talk about the lessons learned from the initial technical tests, field trials, and pilot deployments of tru2way and EBIF, and set the stage for the rest of the year.
Moderator: Craig Leddy, Contributing Analyst, Light Reading Cable Industry Insider
Panelists: Joseph Jensen, Executive VP & CTO, Buckeye CableSystem
Bryan Burns, VP Strategic Business Planning & Development, ESPN
Rebecca R. Lim, Senior Director, Advanced Services, Starz Entertainment
Rick Loechler, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Motorola Broadband Home Solutions
Paul Woidke, Chairman, SCTE DPI Working Group

Break

Panel II: Managing New Video Services

Leading equipment suppliers, cable engineers, and other experts will discuss the wide variety of next-gen video technologies and systems that they're developing, including new HD and VoD products, Web TV services, network DVRs, multi-room DVRs, portable DVRs, other time-shifting and place-shifting products, advanced set-top navigation software, interactive TV applications, addressable advertising, IPTV gear, and mobile video services. Panelists will also explore the even more futuristic products that may follow.
Moderator: Derek Medlin, Senior Analyst, Pyramid Research
Panelists: Howard Rubin, Senior Product Marketing Manager, VP Global Product Marketing, SeaChange International
Vince Groff, Executive Director, Corporate Development, Cox Communications on behalf of MoCA
Kevin Walsh, Director of Consulting Systems Engineering, Juniper Networks
David King, Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer, Concurrent
Ken Morse, CTO, Service Provider Video Technology Group, Cisco

Lunch & Tabletop Displays

Keynote II: Rowing Ahead With Canoe Ventures: Arthur Orduña, Chief Technology Officer, Canoe Ventures

Backed by the nation’s six largest MSOs, Canoe Ventures represents the cable industry’s most aggressive attempt yet to break into the advanced advertising market. In a lively question-and-answer session with Cable Digital News Site Editor Jeff Baumgartner, Arthur Orduna, CTO of Canoe Ventures, will provide the latest information on the joint venture’s efforts to make cable’s advanced ad services easier to buy, use, and measure. Orduna will discuss Canoe’s initial pilots and projects, including its Creative Versioning addressable ad product and EBIF interactive ad applications.

Enabling Advanced Advertising from SCTE

In this special mini-panel, four leaders of the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers’ SCTE 130 Ad-hoc Drafting Group will explore the ins and outs of the cable industry’s emerging standards for advanced cable advertising. The panelists will provide a basic overview of the SCTE 130 spec, explain its role in opening up the industry’s ad platform to multiple equipment vendors, and discuss its significance in the new addressable ad ecosystem. They will also address the close relationship between the new standard and Canoe Ventures’ efforts.
Moderator: Alan Breznick, Senior Analyst, Heavy Reading
Panelists: Bryan Santangelo, Chairman, SCTE AD-HOC Drafting Group
Corey Brown, Editor, SCTE Drafting Group
John Mick, Editor, SCTE Drafting Group
Jeff Sherwin, Editor, SCTE Drafting Group

Panel III: Targeting Targeted TV

This panel will delve into the opportunities and challenges of developing and deploying addressable advertising. Industry experts will address the early efforts by Comcast, Charter, Cablevision, and other cable operators to test and deploy new ad systems that target TV spots to viewers based on anonymous demographic data. They will also discuss the prospects of Canoe Ventures, the cross-MSO advanced advertising initiative that was launched late last year. In addition, panelists will look at the use of SDV and other promising new digital technologies to deliver targeted ads to individual homes and even viewers.
Moderator: Alan Breznick, Senior Analyst, Heavy Reading
Panelists: Bill Sheahan, Director, Advanced Advertising, Comcast Spotlight
David Porter, VP Strategy & Business Development, Cox Media
Paul Delzio, Director of Business Development, ARRIS
John Reister, Chief IPTV Architect, BigBand Networks

Break

Debate: Video Unshackled

In the closing session of the day, cable operators, equipment suppliers, network programmers, and Internet video players will explore cable’s prospects in the emerging three-screen world. How will cable respond to the “cord-cutting” threats posed by over-the-top video? What will be the business model for the proposed cable Web TV ventures? Who will emerge as the big winners in broadband and mobile video? Panelists will debate these answers and dozens of other questions in a lively finale.
Moderator: Alan Breznick, Senior Analyst, Heavy Reading
Panelists: Craig Moffett, Vice President & Senior Analyst, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
Mara Winokur, VP Digital Media & Business Development, Starz Media
Michael Adams, VP of Application Software Strategy, TANDBERG Television, Part of the Ericsson Group
Gil Katz, Senior Director of Cable Solutions, Harmonic
P. Margit Tritt, Senior Product Manager, EchoStar

Cocktail Reception & Tabletop Displays