THE CABLE PIPELINE

I read with fascination an article by Sam Greenholtz, a retired manager from Verizon and Co-Founder and Principle of Telecom Pragmatics, a consulting and research firm specializing in the telecommunications market. In his post dubbed “Hardball 9/26/09: “Cable TV Apps” an Oxymoron”, he goes on to say the Cable TV Industry has not created any worthwhile applications, and that the true recent innovators have come from Silicon Valley.

 While it is intriguing to read with its “hardball” view; it may have some validity in today’s marketplace. But to believe his premise that the Cable Industry has not created any innovation or applications, despite the fact of building a profitable (Pipeline) through collaboration and partnerships, is somewhat of a misnomer, taking in to account its history.

 What Mr. Geenholtz may be trying to convey is that current Cable Industry leadership is out of sync with the consumer and fails to realize the paradigm shift from traditional Digital TV delivery and LEC carriers to a younger generational approach. It conceivably has already happened and is speeding through Wireless, ISP, Social-Twitter, Facebook, You Tube and Free Hulu applications leaving the outdated format of content delivery currently being offered by operators looking like a history lesson.

 This is not to say the Comcast’s, Time Warner’s, Verizon’s and AT&T’s will close their doors and fade into history books, but it does indicate that struggles are evident in keeping the heady consumer numbers which they became accustomed to in the past. Comcast and Time Warner have teamed to offer TV Everywhere; Verizon is having success with its FIOS, (FTTH) service creating breadth to broadband services while yet expensive to construct. AT&T has its U-Verse based IP applications while continuing to use its historical twisted pair cable for home delivery.

 It does indicate that the current pipelines have to both collaborate with and accept new technology innovations along with the entrepreneurs which created them, with the consumers need to socialize and interact with applications that bring the content into homes and businesses. This is the key to self-preservation and growth for the future. The real question to ponder in the new generation of mass applications is whether pipelines will become “dumb” or become part of the shifting “paradigm.”