Top Cable Industry Guy Acknowledges People Hate Cable Guys

Two massive losses in Washington (DC) recently by the cable industry -- the adoption of network neutrality rules and the death of Comcast’s Time Warner Cable deal -- have left cable operators “highly conscious” of the industry’s image problems, National Cable & Telecommunications Association chief executive Michael Powell said. “I’m a firm believer that words and messages don’t work if you’re not liked,” Powell said at the cable industry’s annual trade show, which has been redubbed INTX, the Internet and Television Expo. Cable industry executives are “not delusional” about the complaints from consumers -- from ever-higher prices to terrible customer service -- and are working on long-term fixes to those problems, he said. Another issue that the industry isn’t particularly delusional about is the latest threat of piracy that has been introduced by video sharing apps such as Meerkat, Periscope or Vine.

Powell also said that he hates cable, the name that is, because it does not capture all that his industry has done to build out broadband. "I hate the name," Powell said. "I do think it has a proud history but I think it has to be retired in some way because I think your past can be apart of your glory but it also can be a weight around your ankle. And it also doesn't fairly capture what they do." And while he may hate the name, he loves the record of building out broadband. He said the industry had "successfully deployed the most sophisticated infrastructure in the history of the world in the fastest amount of time of any technology in the history of the world, and increased the capacity of that at exponential rates."