Nice to see Comcast take its host city obligations so seriously, providing a huge news story heading into the Cable Show in Chicago by blowing away the competition and securing four more Olympic Games for NBCUniversal.
At the convention, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts is already scheduled to make some news on Thursday (the last day) with a “next-generation video demo” that observers believe will be Xcalibur, the code name for a new service blending TV programming and social media with a new and improved look and feel.
In industry terms, that’s even bigger than Oprah, who’s also speaking Thursday.
Along with all the sessions and the booth celebrities and the parties inside and outside Wrigley Field, the convention will host some significant events honoring notable people.
Turn to this year’s entrants into the Cable TV Pioneers. That event is a dinner Monday night at the Palmer House hotel.
Tuesday night sees the induction of six worthies into the Cable Hall of Fame, 7-9 p.m. at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers.
NAMIC honors Next-Generation Leaders and Luminaries (and a Friend) at its annual awards breakfast Thursday morning, 7-8:45 a.m., at McCormick Place.
Profiles of the Vanguard Award winners will be feted at a luncheon Thursday, 12-2 p.m., at the Grand Ballroom at McCormick Place.
Also, WICT hosts its Signature Luncheon Tuesday, 12:15-2 p.m., at McCormick Place.
And McCormick is the Place to be Wednesday morning for Multichannel News’s newsy Multicultural TV breakfast, 7-9 a.m., featuring among others Comcast’s David Jensen.
Be sure to read MCN’s show daily Tuesday through Thursday. Nearly all of our staff will be in Chicago, gathering all the on-site news for those tidy print publications, and creating content for various electronic newsletters you won’t want to miss, either.
To help set the stage for cable’s centerpiece convention, contributor George Winslow has compiled two pages of vital facts and figures about multichannel-TV and broadband delivery.
And we hear the green-screen demo that co-chairs Jerry Kent and David Zaslav have planned for the welcome ceremony will start things off on the right foot. See you in The Park!
Click here for more coverage of Cable Show 2011.
