Letters to the Editor

Showtime A few more comments on the question of cable shows, but first, a quick reminder. CT’s Pipeline is a sister publication of Communications Technology and our other electronic products. (Other cable-related publications owned by our parent company Access Intelligence are CableWorld and CableFAX Daily.) One of our key partners is the SCTE, but we don’t speak for the SCTE. In this Broadband Soapbox question, for instance, we simply are raising an issue that we as editors commonly hear during this busy season. Now, back to the discussion: I think that Expo should stay as a stand-alone show. There would be some advantages for the vendors (in combining the shows); however, for the technical types, it is the one show with minimal distractions that really works and goes above the local chapter vendor days, which are the shows that all the local technical teams can attend without seriously impacting the local operations from a financial and staffing perspective. Another note is that this year Expo and Cisco Networkers are the same week, which presents a challenge for those of us that try and attend both. With the cable industry becoming more IP-centric, there is a small but growing group that that cross both disciplines and attends both shows to take advantage of the quality learning experiences of these shows. Butch Robertson
Comcast We’ve always had, and probably always will have, date conflicts with regard to meetings. In fact, when we had more regional shows—Mid-Atlantic, Southern, Texas, Western—the conflicts were probably worse than they are now. That’s just something to live with. As to merging NCTA and SCTE—NO! NO! NO! These are two completely different meetings with completely different focus. NCTA has become the programmers’ conference, with all the loud music, series stars, hoopla, etc. Expo is the industry technical show. It addresses the nuts and bolts of how to make the systems work, where we are headed in engineering terms, and provides an information exchange venue for the technical side that is charged with providing the platforms that allow all the hoopla to become reality. Merging these two events would distract from the effectiveness of both shows. Bill Karnes