Small and midsized cable operators and telcos are heading to Salt Lake City next week for The Independent Show (TIS), where the focus will be on mobile, ever-evolving video strategies and the emergence of AI tech. On the regulatory front, experts will try to unravel the recently tweaked Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program.
Attendees who were hoping that Salt Lake City’s elevation might serve as a reprieve from the heat might be somewhat disappointed as temps are expected to be in the low to mid 90s next week. One huge question heading into the event: Is Salt Lake City capable of slaking the thirst of a cable crowd?
We’ll soon find out. But there will be plenty to discuss there.
Lou Borrelli, CEO of the National Content & Technology Cooperative (NCTC), said this year’s event will provide some helpful “grounding” for its members, who have been grappling with uncertainty amid the regulatory landscape along with the broadband subscriber challenges that larger operators are dealing with. But there’s no time to stand still.
“If you think about where our members are in their businesses and their lifecycles, staying status quo isn’t an option,” said Borrelli, whose organization negotiates programming and tech deals for a membership of more than 700 operators.
NCTC, which co-hosts TIS with ACA Connects, plans to provide updates on its mobile program, which centers on agreements with Reach and AT&T.
Borrelli said more than a dozen members have launched mobile via the NCTC’s program, but a “bunch more” are in the process. Examples of operators that have launched mobile via the NCTC’s program include Allo Communications, Breezeline, Schurz Communications, TDS Telecom, TVS Cable and, just this week, Omni Fiber.
Borrelli acknowledged that the pace of deployments has been slower than originally anticipated, but he added that a wave of updates and improvements to the platform, which will be presented in detail at TIS, will help to accelerate that ramp.
“We have reimagined and improved the original platform that we had contracted with Reach,” Borrelli said, citing changes in feature sets and overall functionality and flexibility. Those improvements have led to some NCTC members shifting from the custom version of the platform to the common one, he said.
Don’t expect news regarding any future support for the Apple Carrier Bundle, which carries some onerous commitments and investments. That means NCTC and its partners still can’t sell new iPhones via device stores. But they can sell older iPhone models and support new iPhones purchased by customers. Meanwhile, there’s no such limitation on Android devices.
“It’s a conundrum,” Borrelli said of the Apple situation. “We’re working through other channels to see if we can solve it.”
‘Broadband TV’ pilots have been lit
NCTC is also making some progress with “Broadband TV,” a slimmed-down, entertainment-focused pay-TV package tailored for broadband-only subscribers.
The idea is to help members stay relevant in the streaming world and keep their hand in the video game with an alternative to the traditional, larger (and typically more expensive) pay-TV package.
Broadband TV’s current no-sports lineup features about 40 general entertainment channels, including carriage of all three C-SPAN networks, that are equipped with digital distribution rights. One aim is to avoid recreating the “bloated bundle” that has also started to seep into the world of virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs), Borrelli said.
The app is initially supported on TiVo’s platform, but the plan is to support multiple streaming platforms.
Pilots of Broadband TV are underway in a handful of markets. All haven’t been identified, but the NCTC web site for Broadband TV includes a testimonial from LHTC Broadband, an operator headquartered in Stahlstown, Pennsylvania.
Operators are taking different angles with Broadband TV. Some are bundling it with home broadband, while others are selling it as a standalone.
“It’s as much about adding value to your broadband service as it is providing video to broadband-only customers,” Borrelli said. “It was clear this was a direction we had to take… There’s a long list of [operators] who want to launch.”
Some operator members, he noted, have been getting out of pay-TV not because they wanted to, but because the economics didn’t work for them anymore.
“The economics for Broadband TV work quite well,” Borrelli said. Operators can bundle it with broadband or mobile or sell it separately.
Broadband TV is sports-free, but that doesn’t mean that sports programming is not on NCTC’s mind now that August 21 is set as the launch date for the ESPN direct-to-consumer (DTC) service and “enhanced” app. Disney will sell ESPN DTC as a standalone and look to make it available to pay-TV distribution partners that already carry the ESPN channels.
Borrelli would only say that negotiations are underway with ESPN owner Disney about a new carriage agreement.
AI for everyone
NCTC will also present updates on the work underway for an AI Center of Excellence, a source of info for members that will include business and use cases of the technology.
In the first phase, NCTC engaged with Ernst & Young to assess the opportunities and identify the potential players. The next phase, now underway, involves vendor selection and use cases that can be developed and tested by members, including ways to make networks and customer care capabilities more efficient.
Borrelli expects that phase to be complete early next year, along with a go or no-go determination by the board. If approved, members will eventually gain access to AI tech that is affordable and deployable for smaller, independent operators.
“We’re very confident in the progress we’re making,” Borrelli said. “We all know that AI is coming. It’s here, but it’s not here. We want to make sure our members have access to whatever they need going forward.”
Anyone bumming about BEAD?
TIS will also take the temperature of the regulatory landscape. Check out this podcast with ACA Connects CEO Grant Spellmeyer to get a fuller picture of what’s on that organization’s front burner these days.
Spellmeyer noted that the organization had four priorities coming into 2025: dealing with Title II rate regulations at the federal level (the courts have mooted that one), fixing state regulation issues, preparing for changes to BEAD, and permitting reform (FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is pushing for that in his “Build America Agenda“).
“I think BEAD is the topic that is the most timely” regulatory topic at TIS, Spellmeyer said.
ACA Connects members now face a much different BEAD program. The program has dropped some provisions while putting more focus on lower-cost options that open the door to satellite broadband and fixed wireless. It also serves fewer locations.
Stick around for the fireworks
TIS is also giving attendees a good reason to stick around the morning of get-away day, Wednesday, August 13.
There’s a verbal cage match scheduled at 8 a.m. MT between MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett and sharp-tongued producer/media expert and cartographer Evan Shapiro that will be moderated by Borrelli, with reactions from the always affable Boycom Cablevision President and CEO Patricia Jo Boyers and Astound Broadband EVP and COO Toni Murphy.
Borrelli said it will take on an “aggressive debate format.” So, expect a lively conversation that no doubt will be peppered with F-bombs (from Shapiro, anyway).
