Fireside: Cable, CE and Content: Meeting the Challenges of a Changing TV Ecosystem

This fireside session--a three-way dialog between the heads of the Consumer Electronics Association and CableLabs, and a programming executive whose responsibilities include leading his company's digital strategy--will focus on the complex and rapidly evolving inter-relationships between the cable, consumer electronics and programming industries, in an era when television is becoming increasing multiplatform and interactive.

Topics to be discussed include the role that CE platforms will play in the future of interactive TV and the delivery of programming content in general; whether the "cord-cutting" that is made possible by connected CE devices presents a serious threat to cable, or whether such connected devices instead represent an opportunity for operators to extend and transform the cable offer; the significance of major operators' interest in the "open cable API" and in supporting the iPad and other TV-companion devices; the potential--thanks to connected devices, the app store model, etc.--for a more immediate relationship between broadcasters and CE manufacturers; and the possible implications of this relationship, including the question of whether and how broadcasters and programmers should adapt their content and business strategies to accommodate a TV ecosystem in which CE devices--whether as an alternative or complement to pay-TV--are playing an increasingly important role.