Coda
by Staff -- Multichannel News, 2/1/2010 2:00:00 AM
SCTE Aims to Go 'Green’
Exton, Pa. — The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers is energized about a new program that aims to cut cable operators’ electricity bills as well as reduce the industry’s overall environmental impact.
The association’s Smart Energy Management Initiative, or SEMI, will comprise meetings and forums to raise awareness about environmentally friendly and sustainable procedures and products. The program also could result in energy-efficiency standards for networking equipment, SCTE president and CEO Mark Dzuban said.
“The most important thing to me is that the industry is making the commitment to go down this energy-management path from a business and public benefit standpoint,” he said.
Representatives from 10 cable operators, including Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications, are part of the initial SEMI leadership group, according to Dzuban. Participating vendors include CommScope and Alpha Technologies, a supplier of telecom power supplies and related equipment.
The National Cable & Telecommunications Association also is lending support to the program. “The cable industry recognizes that we must find new and creative ways to implement 'green’ solutions that will maximize energy efficiency, reduce our overall carbon footprint and increase use of alternative energy sources,” NCTA CEO Kyle McSlarrow said in a statement.
The program crystallizes efforts the SCTE began with its first “Green Pavilion” vendor showcase at the SCTE’s Cable-Tec Expo in 2009. The first official SEMI meeting, which Dzuban called a “think tank event,” will be in March at the Comcast Center in Philadelphia. The SCTE will feature a second Green Pavilion showcase at Cable-Tec Expo 2010, set for Oct. 20-22 in New Orleans, and plans to hold a SEMI meeting in Herndon, Va., in November.
SEMI’s areas of focus will include finding ways to calculate baseline energy usage; providing information on alternative heating and cooling solutions; and reducing outside plant powering costs and consumption. Recycling and recovery techniques to minimize the disposal effects of outdated equipment are also in its purview.
“We have MSOs being proactive about this saying, 'We have a problem — let’s collectively figure it out,’ ” Dzuban said.
The SCTE expects to name a chairperson and other leaders for SEMI in February. The association has established an e-mail address (energy@scte.org) for inquiries and input about the program.
— Todd Spangler
Extra Curricular Efforts
New York — Educational efforts were launched last Tuesday (Jan. 26) by programmer Ovation TV in New York City and by training firm Jones/NCTI in Denver.
Ovation teamed with Cable in the Classroom and the New York City Department of Education’s Office of Arts and Special Projects to unveil arts-related curriculum units and companion programs.
For curriculum units, the network engaged New York-area art teachers over the past year in developing the lessons and selecting programming clips from Ovation TV documentaries, with the initial units focusing on the works of Jackson Pollock, Daniel Libeskind and Robert Rauschenberg. The program is now available for educators online through a newly created portal, OvationTV.com/educators.
The curriculum was introduced to visual arts students at high schools in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Staten Island, where teachers found that students learned to create and paint in the exact style and with the very techniques used by American masters.
The network also partnered with Columbia Business School executive MBA students to develop a relevant, digital arts education platform and marketing plan.
Broadband technical training provider Jones/NCTI kicked off a new educational program for underserved and displaced workers, and inner-city students, at a high school in Denver.
The free program is called BOLD, an acronym for Broadband Opportunity Learning Development. It’s designed to teach such skills as critical thinking, collaboration and problem solving. The program is targeted at helping trainees land jobs in high-demand careers in cable and broadband.
Denver-based Jones/NCTI is partnering with The Urban League of Metropolitan Denver, Hope Online Learning Academy Co-Op (Hope Online) and TUFF SHED.
Beginning early 2010, selected students from local Montbello High School will begin taking the Jones/NCTI Installer Qualification Program, the same online course used by major cable television operators and independent contractor agencies nationwide.
Upon completion of the program, the student is awarded industry-recognized certification and college credit.
— Mike Reynolds and Kent Gibbons
Oceanic Customers Love Playing Games
Honolulu — Time Warner Cable Oceanic customers in Hawaii really dig playing games on TV — an average of 116.5 minutes per day over the course of 2009, according to TAG Networks, which provides the games-on-demand channel to the operator.
The average time spent on the TAG games channel beat 43 linear cable channels, including CNN, Disney Channel, USA Network, Discovery Channel, Lifetime, TNT, AMC and Nickelodeon, according to set-top box data measured by TNS Media (now called Kantar Media).
“The data confirms what we’ve been seeing in the field — our subscribers are very happy with TAG and its games programming,” Alan Pollock, Time Warner Cable Oceanic vice president of marketing, said in a statement. “It has been proven to become a popular addition to our interactive services.”
TWC Oceanic launched the TAG games-on-demand channel in October 2008 through ActiveVideo Networks’ interactive TV system. The operator provides service to nearly 350,000 households, schools and businesses in Hawaii.
The TAG ad-supported channel, available to all Time Warner Cable Oceanic digital cable subscribers, offers a variety of casual games, including Bejeweled 2, Tetris, Diner Dash, Barney, Texas Hold 'Em, Sudoku and checkers.
— Todd Spangler
Time Warner Cutting 350 Jobs in Colorado
Denver — Time Warner Cable said it would cut 350 jobs in the Denver market by closing a call center and its National Division headquarters in the city. The layoffs will begin during the next 90 days and last for several months.
The Denver Post reported the layoffs represent about 30% of Time Warner Cable’s Colorado work force.
TWC will employ about 800 people in five locations in the state after the closures. Employees were notified of the cuts Jan. 26.
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