The National Cable & Telecommunications
Association convention’s return to
Los Angeles last week was a box-office hit.
(The last one there was in 1996; Vice President
Al Gore gave a speech.)
The NCTA said last Thursday, when The Cable
Show 2010 closed, that 13,000 people attended,
up from 12,000 in Washington, D.C.,
a year ago. Some 354 exhibitors were at the
Los Angeles Convention Center, too, up from
around 300 in 2009.
Attendees said the general sessions had
a crowded feel, as did the show floor, with
crowds forming for not-exactly-A-list celebrities
as the Kardashian sisters and ex-National
Football League star Michael Strahan.
Side events also were staged successfully. Last
Monday’s casino night benefit for the young
daughters of former Fox Cable executive Will
Flannery was expected to net about $180,000,
according to Mike Hopkins, president, affi liate
sales & marketing, at Fox Networks.
“We’re still tallying it up,” Hopkins said.
“It’s amazing. The whole industry came together,
and it was fantastic. We had more
than 30 corporate sponsors, and about 400
people came.”
More than 200 volunteers turned out
Tuesday morning for the CableCares visit to
A Place Called Home, a children’s center in
South Central. Among them were L.A. mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa; councilwoman Jan
Perry; and Time Warner Cable chairman and
CEO Glenn Britt.
APCH benefited from the annual Battle
of the Bands event Tuesday night, staged
at Club Nokia in downtown’s new L.A. Live
complex. For the third year running, Cox
Communications-backed Xpanded Bandwidth
won the text-in popularity poll.
More than 3,000 attendees went to Universal
Studios Wednesday night for the convention’s
centerpiece event, courtesy of NBC
Universal. Attendees came away impressed
with NBCU’s largesse and with Maroon 5’s
concert performance.
Another highlight was the emotional
tribute to the late cable entrepreneur Bill
Bresnan at The Cable Center’s Cable Hall
of Fame induction ceremony on Tuesday.
Comcast vice chairman Julian Brodsky announced
a new industry award: the Bresnan
Ethics in Business Award, to be presented
yearly by The Cable Center, beginning in
2011, “to the cable industry leader who exemplifies his high standards every day.”
“Those of us who knew Bill knew two things
— first, that he had an extraordinarily high
level of integrity, and second, that he loved
this industry and believed in its future,”
Brodsky said.
For those planning ahead, next year’s Cable
Show will be June 14-16 in Chicago.
