Light Reading Cable Live!

Special Breakfast Session: Monetizing Multi-Screen Video
(Separate Registration Required)

Nearly four years after Comcast, Time Warner and Cablevision Systems introduced the concept, dozens of cable operators, other service providers and content providers are now offering or testing IP-enabled multi-screen video services. Yet preciously few providers are making much money off their multi-platform TV offerings. A number of potential new revenue models exist, including higher overall subscription fees, a la carte programming options, special mobility charges and higher ad rates. In this special pre-conference session, we will explore the various monetization options, the opportunities they raise, the challenges they pose and possible ways to overcome these challenges.
Moderator: Alan Breznick, Senior Analyst, Heavy Reading
Panelist: Robert Klippel, VP, New Products & Operation, Comcast Spotlight
Panelist: Peter Roberts, Vice President, Sales Strategy and Development, Starz
Panelist: Eric Rosenfeld, Senior Manager of Engineering, Ooyala
Panelist: Bill Feininger, GM, Massive Data Division, SVP. Media Measurement, FourthWall Media
Panelist: Michele McGarry, VP of U.S. Marketing & Business Development, ThinkAnalytics

Introduction: Sizing Up the Competitive Landscape

Over the past five years, cable operators have steadily deployed Docsis 3.0 wideband service throughout the world, while also introducing Wi-Fi and other IP-based wireless broadband technologies. But, with Verizon, AT&T and other telcos continuing to build vast fiber networks and powerful new competitors like Google Fiber emerging, cable providers are still scrambling to match or exceed the pace of their chief rivals. So they're pumping up downstream speeds, boosting upstream capacity, adding new broadband products like home security, launching new mobile services, developing a next-gen version of Docsis and exploring the deployment of fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) and Ethernet Passive Optical Networking (EPON) platforms. This big-picture preview session spells out the competitive stakes for cable in the broadband sphere.
Event Chair: Alan Breznick, Senior Analyst, Heavy Reading

Special Guest

Phil McKinney, the new president and CEO of CableLabs, will discuss how the cable industry needs to innovate for the future to meet its pending challenges. In particular, McKinney will focus on the development of the proposed Docsis 3.1 spec as a prime example of that innovative spirit.
Phil McKinney, President & CEO, CableLabs

Keynote I - Say Hello To Docsis 3.1

In the first keynote of the day, John Civiletto, VP of Architecture at Cox Communications will spell out the cable industry's plans and strategies for developing the much-anticipated new Docsis 3.1 specs. With CableLabs putting Docsis 3.1 on a fast track for development of its core specs by year's end, the keynote speaker will outline the objectives of the next-gen specs, explain the reasoning behind them and highlight the services and apps that the specs will support. In addition, the speaker will lay out the timeline for completing the 3.1 specs, testing cable modems and other equipment and introducing the new gear into the field.
Speaker: John Civiletto, VP of Architecture at Cox Communications

Panel I - Docsis 3.1: The Final Frontier?

Picking up right where the keynoter left off, the morning's first panel will dig deeper into the prospective Docsis 3.1 specs. Senior MSO and vendor technologists will examine the key aspects of D3.1, including its proposed higher upstream and downstream capacities, greater spectral efficiencies, move to orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarriers and shift toward higher orders of QAM modulation. Panelists will also discuss how D3.1 will compare with such other proposed technical platforms as Ethernet Protocol over Coax (EPoC) and how the upgrade to D3.1 may further stave off the industry's expected migration to fiber-to-the-home architectures eventually.
Moderator: Alan Breznick, Senior Analyst, Heavy Reading
Panelist: Jorge D. Salinger, VP, Access Architecture, Comcast
Panelist: Jeff Finkelstein, Senior Director of Network Architecture, Cox Communications
Panelist: Peter Percosan, Managing Director, Cable Europe Labs
Panelist: John Chapman, Cisco Fellow and CTO of Cisco Cable Access Business Unit,Cisco
Panelist: Dan Rice, VP, Access Network Technology, CableLabs

Break

CCAP Keynote

Jorge D. Salinger, VP, Access Architecture, Comcast

Panel II - CCAP: Making It Happen

With Converged Cable Access Platform (CCAP) gear moving out of the lab and into the field, it's time to review the roadmap ahead for cable's budding next-gen access architecture. In this session, leading MSO engineers, industry vendors and other experts will explain various ways to implement the evolving CCAP specs, the technical costs and challenges involved and the operational lessons that have been learned from trials so far. Panelists will also examine how today's pre-standard equipment will evolve into fully-compliant CCAP products and discuss what these developments will mean for tomorrow's denser edge QAM modulation and CMTS devices, as well as tomorrow's cable headends.
Moderator: Alan Breznick, Senior Analyst, Heavy Reading
Panelist: Jorge D. Salinger, VP, Access Architecture, Comcast
Panelist: Gerry White, Chief Architect, Network Infrastructure, Motorola
Panelist: John Dickinson, Senior Director of Network Strategy & Architecture, Bright House
Panelist: John Horrobin, Marketing Manager, Cable Access Business Unit, Cisco Systems, Inc.
Panelist: Tom Gonder, Chief Architect, Time Warner Cable
Panelist: Shane Eleniak, VP, Advanced Broadband Solutions, CommScope

Super Platinum Keynote - John Holobinko, VP of Strategy and Business Development, Motorola Mobility and Home

Lunch & Tabletop Displays

Service Provider Keynote III

In a fireside chat format, Steve Shannon will discuss Roku's OTT market strategy and new emphasis on partnerships with such MSOs as Time Warner Cable. Shannon is responsible for growing content and services on the Roku platform. Prior to Roku, he was executive vice president of RealD Home, where he helped create products that enable 3D content in the living room. Before that, Shannon led product strategy and software development at Gemstar-TV Guide (now Rovi). He's also known for founding Akimbo Systems, the first Internet VOD service for TV, and launching ReplayTV, the first digital video recorder.
Steve Shannon, General Manager, Content Services, Roku

Panel III - Adapting to IP Video

Now that cable operators are clearly embracing IP video, the big question is how they will make the transition to full IP delivery of their video services without overwhelming their already strained networks. When will MSOs start running IP simulcasts and how much extra bandwidth will the simulcasts consume? How will MSOs use the cloud to deliver interactive programming guides, network DVRs, multi-screen video and other new IP services? What roles will hybrid gateways and IP-only video clients play in the transition? Will Comcast's Reference Design Kit (RDK) become a de facto industry standard? How will cable providers connect with connected TVs and other smart devices? Will operators build, buy or share content delivery networks (CDNs)? How will operators adopt (and adapt to) adaptive video streaming? This session will tackle all these tricky transition issues and more.
Moderator: Alan Breznick, Senior Analyst, Heavy Reading
Panelist: Ed Shrum, Senior Director, Strategic Architecture, Cox Communications
Panelist: Gerry White, Chief Architect, Network Infrastructure, Motorola
Panelist: Steve Shalita, Vice President, Marketing, NetScout
Panelist: Vik Saxena, Leader, Cable Solutions and Strategy, Alcatel Lucent Panelist: John Childress, Director, Product Management-Residential, WOW

Comcast IP Video Delivery Case Study

Like many cable operators, Comcast is heavily focused on making the transition to IP Video delivery. Comcast is pioneering such efforts as developing TV Everywhere services, shaping emerging IP Video standards and driving vendors' IP Video roadmaps. This short session will offer an overview of Comcast's IP Video strategy, including its end-state architecture, its interim strategies to manage access network bandwidth and the current status of its IP Video infrastructure development, deployment and standards. Attendees will gain insight into how Comcast is solving complex problems to enable IP Video delivery. Moderator: Alan Breznick, Senior Analyst, Heavy Reading
Panelist: Allen Broome, Vice President, IP of Video Engineering, Comcast Cable
Panelist: David Helfrick, Principal Consultant, IBB Consulting Group

Break

Service Provider Keynote IV - The Evolving Video Landscape

In this Q&A, Richard Buchanan, Vice President and General Manager of Content Operations and Engineering for the Comcast Media Center (CMC), will discuss how the landscape has changed for programmers and other content suppliers as they apply an increasing focus on video-on-demand, interactive applications and the delivery of shows and movies to tablets, smartphones, gaming consoles and other IP-connected devices. Buchanan will talk about how programmers are addressing the multi-screen challenge and how CMC has evolved its own operations to accommodate this new era of authenticated, TV Everywhere services and pave a path toward new revenue opportunities.
Richard Buchanan, Vice President & General Manager, Content Operations & Engineering, Comcast Media Center

Panel IV - Cable's Mobile Maneuvers

Going where no cable has gone before, most of North America's leading MSOs are now rolling out Wi-Fi and other wireless broadband offerings to serve both residential and commercial customers. This session will explore how cable operators are rapidly expanding and coordinating their regional Wi-Fi networks to provide wider broadband coverage, creating a powerful customer acquisition and retention tool and a fresh platform for delivering their emerging multi-screen video services. The panel will also examine how the historic pact between four major U.S. MSOs and Verizon Wireless may spur a new, hybrid class of competitive, low-cost mobile voice services. And it will look at cable's growing role in the booming mobile backhaul market as wireless carriers introduce new 3G and 4G services and deploy small cell technologies en masse.
Moderator: Carol Wilson, Senior Editor, Events, Light Reading
Panelist: Karen Brown, Senior Director of Industry Intelligence, One Touch Intelligence
Panelist: Stefan Bewley, Director, Altman Vilandrie & Co
Panelist: Steven Shalita, Vice President, Marketing, NetScout
Panelist: Hillol Roy, Fellow, IBB Consulting
Panelist: Daniel Storch, Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Development, Charter Communications

Panel V - Easing the Shift to IPv6

How can cable operators carry out the tricky and tedious but necessary migration from the depleted IPv4 Internet addressing standard to the next-gen IPv6 standard? In this closing session, experts from CableLabs, SCTE and leading MSOs and vendors will examine the technical and operating challenges of upgrading broadband networks and subscribers to IPv6 systems while still supporting older IPv4 addresses for existing customers. Speakers will explore the different techniques that cable providers can use to make the transition work and share lessons they have learned from the early IPv6 upgrades.
Moderator: Alan Breznick, Senior Analyst, Heavy Reading
Panelist: Bill Coward, IPv6 Lead Architect, Cox Communications
Panelist: John Curran, President and CEO, ARIN
Panelist: Chris Grundemann, Architect, IP Networks,CableLabs

Cocktail Reception & Tabletop Displays