The Cable Show panel about the future of media: The future is the cloud networks

One of the conferences on the last day of The Cable Show in Los Angeles was First Person: Influencers And Innovators In The Future Of Media. Patrick Esser, president of Cox Communications, and Rob Lloyd, president of Development and Sales of Cisco Systems, hosted the panel. They made the case that the future of media is the cloud networks.Esser was asked about a range of current topics high in the pay-TV agenda such as corporate consolidation, regulation of the Internet, and OTT, among others. He said the Cox is not afraid of consolidation because it brings new business opportunities. Regarding OTT, he said 40% of Cox subscribers watch at least one movie on Netflix and considers blocking services like this a mistake. “Our consumer will have access to anything available on the Internet. We won’t block anyone; it would be the stupidest thing we could do,” he added.He said Cox launched its OTT platform last year under the name Contour and it has been doing well. The company’s broadband VOD is used by 78% of its users.Both executives agreed that clients in the commercial area offer great business opportunities. “There is great potential for operators offering broadband and other services to this sector,” said Esser.Michael Powell, president and CEO of NCTA, gave the closing speech and announced the next Cable Show will take place in Chicago, May 5-7, 2015. There was also an intervention by Sean Combs and Keith Clinkscales of new music channel Revolt, with only six month on the air.