Julian Clover reports from Cable Europe’s Cable Congress in Brussels.
There is something about the organisation of the Cable Congress that took place in Brussels this week (March 7 – 9), where the themes set out at the opening press conference are near enough those that run through the rest of the show.
There was little of the telco-bashing of previous years, Liberty Global’s Diederik Karsten reminding delegates that they may be big elephants, but they are not dead. Even Netflix was getting less conference publicity now that it had actually launched a service, Virgin Media CEO Neil Berkett making it clear the UK cablenet would welcome both Netflix and Lovefilm on board.
A local analyst I spoke to said he thought the dual-language Belgian market would not make such an attractive launch pad for the over-the-top providers.
Right from the start there was a subtle shift back towards content, maybe not to the extent of when the strapline was “That’s Entertainment” (this year was the more non-descript “Up in Lights”), but certainly one that reminds you that the consumer is more likely to be buying the X Factor that 200 Mbps.
Those broadband speeds were mentioned first in the conference and later on the show floor in the context of having gone through the stage of great excitement. Cable has gone from offering speeds of 2 Mbps and is now delivering upwards of 100 Mbps, though the consumer is maybe settling down at 50 Mbps. The argument is that the big leap has already been taken and there is not quite so much to be had right now from doubling those speeds again. Instead the effort should be put into ensuring that those speeds reach around the home into all those multiscreen services.
Multiscreen goes hand in hand with digital, but in a surprising stat it emerged that only 46% of cable homes had been digitised by the end of 2011. The scales can be expected to tip during 2012. Managers have good cause to make the case for conversion with digital homes accounting for 65% of total revenues.
This curiosity seems a little at odds with cable’s support for the EU’s Digital Agenda. It is helping drive this forward through its high-speed internet access, but in some cases actively promoting analogue TV.