Jones Snaps up NCTI

The purchase of NCTI by Jones International Academy melds two of the cable industry’s leading providers of post-secondary education, but the relationship between Jones, NCTI and the SCTE remains a work in progress. Under the terms of the acquisition, NCTI will operate as a subsidiary of Jones under the leadership of Jones International Academy’s President Mark Wagner, while Tom Brooksher will remain as president of NCTI. "They (NCTI) alerted us that the investment group (that owns NCTI) was looking to sell the company," JIA managing director Neil Sullivan said. "It (the acquisition) gives us a pretty solid position in the cable training space; that’s for today. For tomorrow, we’d like to provide a broader variety of not only cable technical training but other areas of cable TV like customer service, marketing, management and so on. "It also connects NCTI, which has been very active in helping people with their associate or undergrad degrees, to an organization that has a fully accredited university in Jones International University." For the past 37 years, NCTI has provided the cable industry training, education and workforce performance solutions. NCTI’s certificate and associate degree programs will dovetail with Jones International University’s bachelor’s and master’s programs for increased higher education opportunities within the cable industry, according to a press release. Still defining new relationship Sullivan said the two organizations are "moving with dispatch to integrate the two organizations," but the SCTE’s relationship with NCTI/JIA is still under development. "We’ve certainly extended courtesy calls so that everyone knows what we’re doing," Sullivan said. "We’re meeting with SCTE and other clients. We’ve had our own independent conversations with SCTE on a number of things. SCTE has some exciting plans to offer expanded access to education and information about the industry, so I think we’re all in lockstep with each other." JIA recently made the SCTE’s "Symposium on Commercial Services" available on podcasts, but Marv Nelson, SCTE’s vice president of professional development, said it was too early to say whether SCTE and JIA would work together on future podcasts. "It is a little too early to know for sure what this means," said Nelson via email about the NCTI deal. "The two organizations have not yet met to discuss the impact and moving forward. I have the highest hopes that this expands on what we have already been doing, but that remains to be seen." – Mike Robuck