Kyle McSlarrow

Breaking Through the Clutter
November 21, 2006

One of the most important elements of public policy is understanding that perception plays a significant role in the legislative process. It’s a truism that our opponents will work hard to define us if we don’t take the initiative to define ourselves.

Applying this same strategy is just as important in public policy advocacy, especially for an industry such as ours, often the target of competitors looking to gain an unfair regulatory advantage.

Building a positive perception of cable among leaders in Washington, D.C., is in part why we at NCTA moved to our new headquarters near Capitol Hill last month. And just last week, I joined NCTA’s board of directors in unveiling a new exhibit, cableINNOVATES, at our Capitol Hill offices.

Our goal is simple -- to showcase how cable is an innovative technology leader providing advanced communications and entertainment services that make a positive difference in the lives of American consumers. How? By operating this 1,000-square-foot exhibit set up to resemble a fully integrated “broadband home,” showing off the interactive-video, high-speed-Internet and digital-voice products and services cable operators are providing to consumers.

Cable has invested more than $100 billion to bring these exciting services to households, and the exhibit provides hands-on demonstrations so that visitors -- such as members of Congress, congressional staffers, FCC members and staff, and other policymakers and dignitaries -- are able to experience it themselves.

At the same time, we also debuted a new 105-seat state-of-the-art high-definition theater that will serve as one of Washington, D.C.’s most technically advanced locations for premieres and screenings of cable’s programming and other events. The theater is adjacent to cableINNOVATES and provides another great opportunity to showcase the creative programming that continues to earn more viewers and more accolades.

So what do visitors find in cableINNOVATES? Many great products and services. Here’s the rundown:

Video: Rooms throughout the exhibit showcase cable services that offer a variety of entertainment experiences including: a 60-inch HDTV with a Dolby 5.1 surround-sound home-theater system; high-definition digital-video recorder; multiroom high-definition DVR; DVR to DVD set-top box; on-demand programming and features; online video games that allow real-time interaction between players across the room or around the world; refrigerator with built in television screen; and an on-screen parental-controls demonstration.

Cable Modem/Home Networking: Home-networking components extend broadband services throughout the display, including wireless music and photo sharing among computers and televisions, videoconferencing, a broadband music portal and a broadband-accessible oven that is able to receive cooking instructions and other messages.

Digital Phone: Digital-voice services are employed throughout the display via systems that link cell calls to the home phone, caller ID displayed on the television, personal video phones and emergency battery backup power.

NCTA is eager to share this new exhibit and theater with you -- and with other policymakers, regulators and opinion leaders here in Washington -- in the effort to continue enhancing cable’s image as a consumer and technology leader.

We’ll continue to update and rotate new services into the exhibit so cableINNOVATES reflects the most current technology that cable offers. cableINNOVATES and the new NCTA theater are best experienced firsthand. But to read more about them, and see a few representative photos of our display, you can go to this link on our Web site. And let me know what other products and features you think should be in our “broadband home!”

Posted by Kyle McSlarrow on November 21, 2006 | Comments (2)