Coronavirus Makes It Clear: Broadband Rules! So, Does Cable Get a White Hat?

Y39all haven39t heard from me for a while as I39ve sheltered in place in a new place amp8230 at the top of the Peninsula in Puget Sound The epicenter of Seattle is thankfully a couple of ferry rides awaySo I39m online with service from Wave now in the grasp of venture capital guys whose view of the customer is well let39s just say problematical Anyway like just about everyone else in the US I39ve been known to curse cable That39s true even though I grew up in the business from late 1969 until a couple years ago when I sold out and sort of retired Now the cable companies most of them are run by pretty smart guys and they did notice when the word quotcablequot became a pejorative So what did they do Rebranded With fancy new names like Xfinity Spectrum Sparklight and more But they all still have quotcablesquot of one sort or another and in case you didn39t notice it39s these quotcablesquot that have made locked downs and sheltering in place semitolerableLike everyone else and especially media and advertising folk I39ve been busy with Zoom FaceTime WhereBy and whatever Google calls its39 online service today amp8230 even Cisco39s Webex Without those services sheltering quarantining masking social distancinglocation spacing same food takeouting and more would be impossible And that39s a pretty big deal for folks used to interacting with friends coworkers competitors each and every day With so many folks locked up at home some of the new services have run into growth problems Paging Zoom here although the company is doing everything it can to fix those problems Anyway the point is that Zoom plus services like Netflix Hulu Acorn Philo and more plus even regular old linear TV via cable or broadcast are filling the hours not spent grousing avoiding work sleeping eating or arguing Which is no small thing when you39re locked in place with your nearest and dearestBut what we need to remember is that all these things not counting those nearest and dearest are riding over the infrastructure pioneered and built by that company that used to make you so mad your cable provider Really amp8212 the same company that used to add some channels you didn39t like every time they raised your cable bill Which in case you39ve lost sight of my point is exactly what we depend upon today They rallied around CableLabs thanks former Senator Tim Worth TCI39s John Malone and John Sie Comcast39s late Ralph Roberts the Cox family the NCTA Dick Green Jim Chiddix and John Goddard and more setting standards that apply today The cable modem over broadband made all this possibleSo raise a toast to them the next time you do cocktails with distant friends coworkers or enemies amp8230 really In the meantime those guys and Brian Lamb also created CSPAN amp8230 and still underwrite itRandom Notes Here39s what Federal Confusion Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Tweeted JRosenworcel earlier this week You know what you need for school today Broadband In this crisis you need it to head to class online But millions of students in the US have no internet access In the UK they39re solving this homeworkgap by helping get every student online We need to do this here tooEarnings This Week Netflix posted Tuesday ATampampT on Wednesday and Verizon on Friday Looking beyond the fact all of them live online and even in this downsized shutdown are doing better than most well discounting DirecTV and devolution from satellite with socalled OTT means quotoverthetopquot or riding on cable but keeping it a secret really shining as Hulu Philo and more will report Comcast via NBCU just added Vudu to Fandango while launching Peacock amp8230 can anybody keep track of them allLinear T V Ain39t Dead Yet Some 207 million folks watched quotOne World Together At Homequot in America last Sunday night amp8230 credit to Nielsen and DeadlineClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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Coronavirus Makes It Clear: Broadband Rules! So, Does Cable Get a White Hat?

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Paul S. Maxwell

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Coronavirus Makes It Clear: Broadband Rules! So, Does Cable Get a White Hat?

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