NCTA chief Kyle McSlarrow stepped up efforts to get cable’s rank-and-file behind the "Take Control" parental controls campaign with a surprise appearance at WICT Forum’s opening session in NY yesterday. Echoing remarks he made at CTPAA last week in DC, McSlarrow called on attendees to be more vocal telling cable’s overall story to the public and policymakers, especially in light of the upcoming Telecom Act rewrite. "When was the last time you invited a member of Congress to come to your system, or held an open house for the public, or offered local legislators opportunities to address your audience?" McSlarrow asked. Apparently Mass Ave has taken to heart calls from lawmakers that the industry must get the word out on parental control or risk facing govt legislation. — He also reiterated NCTA support for advancing women and minorities in cable, and touted Cable Positive. "We can do better," he said, "but the commitment is there." — Getting Along: The opening session stressed the importance of collaboration between operators, programmers and vendors. And who better to offer insight on improving relations between programmers and operators than Mediacom CEO Rocco Commisso? "Standardize your damn contracts," Rocco said, attempting his best behavior (he didn’t even mention retrans consent or sports rights-that must’ve been some carriage deal Mediacom inked with ESPN last month…). Newly minted MTV pres Christina Norman suggest ops, programmers and vendors be clear on goals and "what everyone wants to get out of the effort." — Simon Applebaum

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Friday–February 26

DirecTV, DISH Merger Still Possible

AT&T found a way to offload a stake in its US video business, but this likely isn’t the end of the road for DirecTV. A combo with DISH is still possible.

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