As part of The Cable Show 2011, we are producing a special venue on the exhibit floor called The Park.

It is not an exhibit itself. Nor is it a set of panels. It is a series of nine one-hour talk shows that will be streamed live over the web and that attendees can witness in person.

The conversation in The Park will center on the dynamic changes that the cable industry is going through, which are transforming the customer experience.

For its first 50 years, the cable industry was primarily about delivering traditional television. Since the commercial launch of cable modems 15 years ago, the focus has gradually been shifting to broadband; we have now reached a point where broadband is an enabling platform for a variety of services and is re-defining the traditional media business.

In previous phases of our industry’s history, cable had a particular infrastructure and utilized certain technologies, which then enabled a set of services it could deliver to customers. The Park will show, through practical demonstrations and thought-provoking discussions, that we are now entering a new phase, in which our business operates in a different way, delivering new types of services to our customers.

This is a new world in which Consumer Electronics, Information Technology and Hollywood have become intertwined. At a time when some critics have accused the cable industry of being an obsolete dinosaur, doomed to distinction, the industry is actually turning into a dynamo, becoming a part of the broader ecosystem and finding innovative ways to carry our hybrid fiber-coaxial infrastructure into the future.

Here is the list of the topics we’ll be addressing in The Park over the three days:

• Socially Acceptable: Community Engagement in a Socially-Driven Interactive World. We’ll examine the enormous impact of social media, especially in the areas of customer service, politics and commerce.
• Unplugged: The Mobile Extension of Cable’s Value Proposition. Cable’s broadband services (both video & Internet) are becoming unchained from the set-top box and the modem, allowing consumers to extend the value of their subscription to mobile devices and even outside the home.
• Ideas in Action: Partnerships That Drive Broadband Adoption in America. With the increasingly critical role that broadband plays as a driver of economic recovery, job creation and global competitiveness, how are cable operators helping to drive broadband adoption? Also, a presentation of Cisco’s annual Visual Networking Index will document the growth and use of IP networks worldwide.
• Consumer Voices: Digital Natives – Habits and Habitats of the Next Generation. A special focus group of real consumers will feature tomorrow’s consumers. We’ll be able to learn firsthand from young consumers their experiences, practices, expectations about use of digital platforms in their daily lives and behaviors – today and tomorrow.
• Cable Bridge: You CAN Get There From Here. Cable’s shift to new platforms is still evolving, so we’ll examine the growing momentum towards multi-platform delivery.
• TV Everywhere: The Latest in Cable’s Anytime, Anywhere App-Focused Attitude. Programmers are undergoing radical shifts in their business as well, while still partnering with cable operators. New apps empower authorized subscribers to access shows & movies in a convenient, personalized and portable manner.
• Consumer Voices: New Advertising Strategies & What Consumers will Find Helpful (or Not). Advertising will be key to generating revenue in this new environment. This focus group will look at how consumers will view new ad strategies implemented on diverse platforms including product placement.
• Network Nirvana: Achieving Harmony in Cable’s Connected Home. As broadband converges everything, distinctions between cable’s voice, video and data services begin to fade. Cable’s connected home  allows content to be streamed to any device in the home, and leverages the network to enable new services like home monitoring, automation and security.
• Problem Solvers: Innovating for the Greater Good. Advanced technology is not only a commercial venture, but also a power force for good, affecting everything from educations to civics. In addition, we’ll also discuss cable’s role in advancing the critical IPv6 transition that will make the Internet continue to function properly.

Tune in Tuesday afternoon (June 14) at live.thecableshow.com beginning at 12:30 p.m. (CT) to see the conversation. The whole schedule is online at The Cable Show website.

During The Cable Show last week, Light Reading’s Jeff Baumgartner interviewed NCTA President & CEO Kyle McSlarrow. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski had spoken earlier that day (coverage here) and so Jeff asked Kyle about proposed Title II regulation of broadband. They also discussed the AllVid NOI and the CableCARD fix (see this previous post for background). Finally, they talked about the SOC waiver recently granted by the FCC.

Yesterday, former FCC Chairman Michael Powell led Marc Andreessen, Time Warner’s Jeffrey Bewkes, CBS’ Leslie Moonves, Comcast’s Brian Roberts, and Fox Filmed Entertainment’s Tom Rothman through a wide ranging, free flowing, and spirited discussion of the future of content at The Cable Show’s second general session.

To start the conversation, Powell asked Brian Roberts if cable should be worried about online video.  Roberts responded that every new medium presents a new opportunity, but said they all present avenues to deliver lawful content; the more opportunities for that, the better.

Andreessen (who shared details of his 36 port HDMI switch with 36 different inputs and a $4,000 per month commercial Internet connection) said that was the right way to look at the future – since every device is now expected to be Internet-enabled, and to allow content consumption.

Rothman chimed in to agree, but said that creates a requirement that content be compelling.  Without compelling content, you just have a bunch of devices to check baseball scores.  Rothman says the key to content online is two-fold.  First, the most important piece of content is good storytelling.  Second, that storytelling must be accompanied by a way to protect and monetize content.

The various models of monetization became a hot topic and Powell noted that customers may have different thoughts about the monetization process – so cable operators may end up fighting with consumers.

Moonves answered by noting that, for his company, there used to be one source of revenue – advertising – but now there are many more, such as syndication, retransmission fees, DVDs,  iTunes, Hulu, etc.  That presents more options to address the monetization question.

The introduction of the topic of advertising led Powell to ask what impact services like Facebook will have, since they present a new, and possibly competing, set of audience segmentation data.  Powell noted the industry no longer has the exclusive on audience data.

Bewkes suggested all the different entities must become partners in the sharing of audience data, and Moonves said one of the essentials is accurate eyeball measurement – and we don’t have that yet.

Andreessen suggest Facebook can be an enabler of content by providing data, and also by sharing content with friends.

Roberts said people may go to other providers  – not because the content is different, but because the experience is different or cooler.  As a result, it is incumbent upon cable to stay fresh and cool, and spend more time on the interface.

Asked what makes them nervous, the panelists suggested that the uncertainty of regulatory change was a great challenge.

Moonves joked, “Whenever they say it’s not about the money, it’s all about the money.”

In a discussion involving the people responsible for wireless strategies at America’s largest cable companies, one thing was clear – there is no single path they are taking to deliver wireless.  Cathy Avgiris of Comcast, John Bickham of Cablevision, Stephen Bye from Cox Communications, Frank Miller of Bend Broadband, and Mike Roudi from Time Warner Cable spoke today at The Cable Show in Los Angeles, on the panel “Spectrum of Possibility: Technology & Strategy for the Business of Wireless Communications.”

While most noted the agreement between industry players Sprint and Clearwire to provide mobile outside their service areas, there were differing business plans on display.  Stephen Bye noted Cox Communications plans to build its own wireless network using current 3G technology, but also noted the ease of upgrading to LTE in the longer term.  That approach puts Cox at odds with most of the other operators.

Comcast’s Avgiris, for instance, noted the different approach cable operators had taken to telephony years ago.  Rather than try to develop a circuit-switched network, many cable operators began pursuing a VoIP solution that would allow them to be competitive without high upfront costs.

Similarly, Avgiris said companies like Comcast and Time Warner are looking at Wi-Fi networks and dual mode smartphones to deliver their wireless offerings.

Cablevision’s Bickham discussed the deployment of their Optimum WiFi service in the New York area (see this earlier post), and the agreement between Time Warner, Comcast, and Cablevision to allow Wi-Fi roaming across each others’ networks (see this Multichannel News article).

All agreed that wireless would be a key part of the bundle of services offered by cable operators, but most spoke to the consumer benefits of that.  It’s no longer about bundling services just to save money, it’s about the experience.  When customers can use their mobile device as a gateway and player for their home based services, that becomes a powerful driver for consumer interaction.

Yesterday’s opening session of The Cable Show 2010 featured a line up of cable heavy hitters in free-flowing discussion across a wide variety of topics.  Starting with the FCC’s recent decision to pursue reclassification of ISPs under Title II, moderator Tyler Mathisen questioned the CEOs about regulations, business models, consumer interests, and the future.

When questioned about the FCC’s pursuit of Title II, Time Warner Cable’s Glenn Britt and Cox’s Pat Esser both spoke to the success of broadband and suggested the FCC would be wise to keep interference to an absolute minimum.

The talk quickly turned to business models – both the delivery of products across different media, as well as how the convergence of media may result in changes to the pricing models.  To the former, Britt suggested operators should avoid thinking of every new screen as a different business, and instead focus on the industry’s true business – telling a great story via video – and thinking of new ways to meet that business goal regardless of platform.

On pricing, Esser suggested there will be open models, subscription models and transactional models, and said the goal of the operator is to facilitate them all, in a way that is easy for consumers.

The discussion of pricing led to a brief discussion of retransmission consent.  Both the programmers and the operators seemed largely unconcerned and said the process would get fixed.  However, Viacom’s Philippe Dauman did note that despite the sometimes contentious negotiations, the net result to consumers is positive.  Dauman noted that the increase in fees gets reinvested into new channels, better programing, and more delivery options.

One area where all sides seemed to agree is the role of sports and gaming as drivers of 3D television.  Asked what the adoption of 3D television would look like, Pat Esser suggested that youth and gaming would be key drivers.  David Zaslav from Discovery Networks noted the programmers push to launch the first 24 hour 3D channel as a driver.  Kevin Tsujihara of Warner Bros. spoke of the role of CE manufacturers, and specifically cited studies that indicate consumers are refreshing devices more frequently.  That, he argued, should shorten the amount of time 3D would take for adoption – especially as opposed to HD.

Britt used the mention of hi-def to note that it took 20 years for high-definition television to take off. He suggested that the migration to 3D will be guided by consumers, and said operators need to be sure to let them drive the process.

For additional coverage of this session, see The Cable Show blog.