NCTA: Television is the original social medium

During his opening remarks at The Cable Show 2012 in Boston, Michael Powell, CEO & president of NCTA, mentioned that cable is thriving with new energy, new products and a very promising future. “Americans adore television. We watch about 147 hours of TV per month-which may not be entirely healthy, but there is no escaping the immense pleasure we get from the tube. Television is the original social medium. The fact that so many Americans stuck with cable during the recession is a testament to our value and stability,” said Powell.Powell also talked about the state of electronic communications, an area that does not stand still. “The Internet may be the most extraordinary advance in the history of information, ushering in a new age of infinite possibilities. Leaders take risks, and the cable industry chose to bet big on the promise of delivering broadband. It was an ambitious and risky play, but one that is now paying off for consumers. Our industry has invested nearly $200 billion of private capital to build the infrastructure to get America online,” added Powell.Indicated that cable broadband now reaches 93 percent of homes-rich, poor, urban and rural. “But the industry has never stopped pushing forward. We have increased broadband speeds over 900 percent in a decade. And we are on the verge of deploying additional technology to reach speeds so fast, the Internet itself may be unable to deliver content fast enough to match cable’s last mile.”