Cable needs to KISS (Keep it Simple, Stupid) with converged content delivery model

The cable industry wants to converge its content onto different platforms because consumers want to see that content on places other than their television sets and through devices other than their digital set-top boxes. At the same time, the industry has "a way of overcomplicating things" when it comes to providing these types of packages, Time Warner Chairman, President and CEO Glenn Britt said during a general session at The Cable Show in Los Angeles yesterday.

Making consumers pay for content no matter on which platform it's viewed should be simple, he added, because "the consumer dynamic of paying once and having everything available is a very powerful thing," Britt said.

Patrick Esser, president of Cox Communications pointed out that cable has three primary ways of delivering new levels of content in a converged package: via a subscription model, a transactional model such as video-on-demand, or over the "open Internet," adding that his job "and my company's job is to enable all of that."

Opening General Session at The Cable Show 2010 - Storytelling 3.0: Audiences, Creators, Content & Connection. SOURCE: The Cable Show

On the subject of open Internet, neither Britt nor Esser said anything inflammatory about FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski's proposed "third way" of using telecom regulation to cover broadband Internet. Both stuck to what seems to be the preferred industry script.

"We remain willing to work with them (FCC)," Britt said, echoing comments by Comcast President-CEO Brian Roberts earlier in the day. "It's (broadband Internet) a successful business case and we have to hope they don't disrupt that," he added, stepping towards the edge of being critical before pulling back and asking both sides to "open up the dialog."

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