Silicon Flatirons

A Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado

The Future of Cable

@ The Omni Interlocken Hotel, Broomfield, CO
July 22, 2008

Sponsored by the Colorado Cable Telecommunications Association, the Silicon Flatirons Center, the Communications Technology Professionals, and the Federal Communications Bar Association

2007 was, in many respects, a year in which the cable industry hit a brick wall. Wall Street turned against the industry, concluding that its growth trajectory faced a series of difficult questions. Foremost among these questions was the impact of the competition it faced from the telephone companies, the satellite providers, and video over the Internet providers. On the regulatory front, the Federal Communications Commission, under the leadership of Chairman Kevin Martin, undertook a series of initiatives that National Cable & Telecommunications Association President Kyle McSlarrow called "a war on cable." Finally, consumers faced a challenging around of technology adoption decisions, ranging from how to receive voicemails on the web, use their digital video records, on demand viewing options, and high definition television. To top it off, the country headed into what, on many accounts, is being labeled as a recession.

Cable has faced down formidable challenges before and this conference will evaluate the nature of the current challenges and how the industry can overcome them. In so doing, it will engage a series of leaders in industry and academia to evaluate the technological, business, policy, and societal dynamics that will bear on the industry's future.