FCC Urged to Block Sinclair s Virtual TV Duopolies

Transcription

1 Servig Idepedet Cable Operatig Compaies November 2013 FCC Urged to Block Siclair s Virtual TV Duopolies ACA Says Left Uchecked, Siclair Will Use Clout To Gouge Cosumers I Harrisburg ad Charlesto The America Cable Associatio has called o the Federal Commuicatios Commissio to stop Siclair Broadcast Group from takig effective cotrol of two Big Four TV statios each i a pair of mid-sized markets where the broadcaster hopes to use its duopoly clout to force pay-tv providers, icludig ACA members, ito payig excessive amouts for retrasmissio coset to carry those statio sigals. Approvig Siclair s merger with Allbritto Commuicatios without chages sought by ACA ad others would draw the FCC ito embracig oe of the most trasparet evasios of its duopoly rule, which does ot allow owership of more tha oe of the top-four rated TV statios i a give market, ACA chief Matt Polka said. Siclair s Iside SCTE s Cable-Tec Expo Attedace Tops 9, ACA Applauds Bipartisa Bill Repealig STB Itegratio Ba..4 Work With Itetio: Performace Time Compoets.5 SubscriberWise: The Multi-Faceted Tool Protectig ad Eablig Cable Operators...6 What Leadership Is NOT 3 Leadership Myths to Avoid...9 Cable Techologies Sigs NCTC Cotract: Busiess News Cable Busiess Directory labored legal maeuverigs should ot be tolerated because they are blatatly icosistet with the public iterest i competitive local televisio markets, ad approval of the deal would make a mockery of the FCC s eforcemet of its ow broadcast owership rules. As part of its $1 billio trasactio with Allbritto, Siclair will acquire the compay s seve TV statios, icludig its Big Four statios i Charlesto, SC. ad Harrisburg, PA. Siclair, fully aware that the FCC s rules would ot permit its outright owership of these statios, is also proposig to assig its ow statios i these markets to third parties so-called sidecar compaies while cotiuig to provide may support services to the statios through a variety of sharig agreemets. Uder the agreemets, Siclair will create virtual duopolies that are tatamout to mergers i all respects except its ame would ot appear o record as the formal ower of the statio. Oe of the may key statio fuctios that Siclair would retai from the sidecar compaies is the ability to act as their aget i retrasmissio coset egotiatios. I Harrisburg, Siclair would be able to egotiate retrasmissio coset for the ABC ad CBS affiliates ad o behalf of the ABC ad Fox affiliates i Charlesto. This arragemet would permit the omially separately owed statios to coordiate their egotiatios, thereby eablig them to extract higher fees from local cable operators tha each statio could expect to secure if egotiatig separately. ACA s petitio asks the FCC to dey the Siclair-Allbritto deal or, i the alterative, to impose coditios that would prevet the statios from coordiatig their egotiatio of retrasmissio coset agreemets. ACA Salutes FCC Chairma Wheeler, Commissioer O Rielly O Their Cofirmatios America Cable Associatio chief Matt Polka issued the followig statemet regardig Seate cofirmatio of FCC Chairma Thomas Wheeler ad Commissioer Michael O Rielly: ACA cogratulates Chairma Wheeler ad Commissioer O Rielly o their Seate cofirmatios. We look forward to workig with them as well as Commissioers Jessica Roseworcel ad Ajit Pai o addressig the critical commuicatios policy issues facig the coutry. We also look forward to cotiuig our costructive relatioship with Commissioer Migo Clybur, who deserves special praise for keepig the FCC s ageda o track while servig as Actig Chairwoma these past few moths. Thomas Wheeler

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3 SCTE Elects Suddelik s Terry Cordova; As Atlata Expo Attedace Tops 9,000 The Society of Cable Telecommuicatios Egieers has aouced that Terry Cordova, executive vice presidet ad CTO of Suddelik Commuicatios, has bee elected as chairma of the board for the term. The orgaizatio s board also accepted the resigatio of Pat Crull, Ph.D., group vice presidet ad CLO for Time Warer Cable, elected Chris Whitaker, area vice presidet of operatios for Time Warer Cable, as a appoited Board member ad elected a full slate of officers for the comig year. Cordova is joied o SCTE s Executive Committee by: Vice Chairma: Toy Werer, executive vice presidet ad CTO, Comcast Cable; Treasurer: Chris Whitaker, area vice presidet of operatios, Time Warer Cable; ad Secretary: Jim Hughes, SVP, Global Broadbad Sales, CommScope. A marquee opeig sessio ad a ehaced array of educatioal programs ad hads-o techology exhibits helped drive attedace to approximately 9,800 for SCTE Cable-Tec Expo 2013, the Society of Cable Telecommuicatios Egieers has aouced. The Oct evet at the Georgia World Cogress Ceter i Atlata featured a icrease of more tha 6 percet year-over-year i overall attedace. Two all-day pre-coferece workshops Creatig the Cable Geeralist ad DOCSIS 3.1 Egieerig attracted more tha 400 registrats. I additio, Expo attracted more tha 1,200 iteratioal attedees ad more tha 60 first-time exhibitors. SCTE Cable-Tec Expo 2013 featured a cotet-rich opeig sessio: a keyote coversatio betwee NCTA Presidet & CEO Michael Powell ad Kevi Hart, executive vice presidet ad CTO of Cox Commuicatios; a C-Suite pael with Cox Presidet Pat Esser, Comcast Executive Vice Presidet ad COO Dave Watso, ad ARRIS Chairma ad CEO Bob Stazioe; ad a etwork operatios pael moderated by Comcast Executive Vice Presidet ad Chief Network Officer Joh Schaz. Wherever I wet this year, there was ethusiasm about how SCTE Cable-Tec Expo is breakig ew groud i issues that are essetial to the future of cable, said Mark Dzuba, presidet ad CEO ACA Applauds Bipartisa Latta-Gree Bill Repealig Set-Top Box Itegratio Ba America Cable Associatio Presidet ad CEO Matthew M. Polka has issued the followig statemet regardig Rep. Bob Latta ad Rep. Gee Gree s bill repealig the Federal Commuicatios Commissio s regulatio requirig cable operators to deploy set-tops boxes with a separate security module kow as the CableCard: The America Cable Associatio strogly edorses House legislatio itroduced today by Rep. Bob Latta of Ohio ad Rep. Gee Gree of Texas, which will elimiate a regulatio that has proved to be costly, burdesome ad, by the FCC s ow admissio, ieffective i creatig a retail market for cable STBs. From ACA s perspective, the FCC s STB itegratio ba (which required the separatio of chael-tuig ad sigal-scramblig ecryptio fuctios i STBs) was especially harmful to small cable operators, who were forced to rely o expesive CableCard-eabled boxes that were disproportioately more costly tha for larger cable operators. Moreover, o such itegratio ba madate applied to ACA Members direct broadcast satellite competitors. We look forward to workig with Rep. Latta ad Rep. Gree i wiig Cogressioal ad White House support for their bipartisa bill. Although the Latta- Gree bill would allow cable operators to deploy itegrated STBs, it would ot elimiate the requiremet that cable operators cotiue to provide their subscribers that use, for example, TiVo DVR devices with all ecessary CableCard techical support. of SCTE. I m pleased at how the idustry respoded to this evet ad am particularly grateful to Michael Powell; to Pat Esser, Kevi Hart ad their teams at Cox Commuicatios for their overwhelmig support; ad to CableLabs for their work i creatig our stadigroom-oly DOCSIS 3.1 symposium. SCTE Cable-Tec Expo is reowed as a veue that helps the cable idustry to reduce costs, deploy ew services ad icrease customer satisfactio. The evet features idustry leaders cofrotig key techical challeges; hudreds of hads-o, techology-cetric exhibits; a array of robust ad relevat techical workshops; the SCTE IP Challege; the Iteratioal Cable-Tec Games; ad valuable learig that is drive by peer-to-peer iteractio. SCTE Cable-Tec Expo 2014 will be coducted Tuesday through Friday, Sept at the Colorado Covetio Ceter i Dever. Toy Werer, executive vice presidet ad CTO of Comcast Cable, will serve as Program Committee chairma for the 2014 evet. Complete iformatio about SCTE s idustry evets ad member beefits is available at ACA Applauds Reform Of Call Completio Regs America Cable Associatio chief Matt Polka has issued a statemet regardig the Federal Commuicatios Commissio s decisio to reform rural phoe call completio regulatios: ACA applauds the Federal Commuicatios Commissio for takig importat steps to address the rural call completio problem that affects its member compaies ad their customers, ad for the maer i which the agecy processed it. Polka said. As ACA explaied i its filigs, the FCC eeded to fix resposibility o the parties with the most direct cotrol over call routig, ad that subjectig smaller providers who trasmit a small percetage of log distace calls would be ureasoably burdesome. ACA is pleased the FCC will require oly providers with more tha 100,000 lies ad that make the iitial choice as to how to route a call to collect, retai, ad submit data to the FCC. We expect rural phoe customers will beefit from today s actio. 4 November 2013 Maagemet Work With Itetio: The Three Compoets of Performace Time By Bria Mora Everythig you wat to accomplish i life requires a ivestmet of your time, so whe you wat to improve your results, you must cosider the fact that your supply of time is limited. Eve i this era of iovatio ad techological advacemet, time, more tha ay other resource, is the limitig factor. Let s face it, everythig requires time. It is the oe truly uiversal coditio. Eve more vexig is the fact that the supply of time is completely ielastic. No matter the magitude of demad, the supply is fixed. Moreover, it s perishable. Ad yet, time is perhaps the most squadered of all persoal resources. To become great, you must choose to allocate your time to your greatest opportuities. You will have to choose to sped time o the difficult thigs that create your biggest payoffs. To be great you will eed to live with itetio. This will require you to be clear o what matters most, ad the to have the courage to say o to thigs that distract you. You will eed to guard your time itesely, delegatig or elimiatig everythig possible that is ot oe of your stregths or does ot help you advace your goals. To be your best, you must itetioally alig your time ad activities with your stregths ad your uique capabilities. Whe you do, you will also experiece a ew ad ever-icreasig level of performace ad satisfactio. To achieve this level of performace will require that you carve out time for the strategic those actios that are importat, but ot ecessarily urget. Strategic activities do t typically have a immediate payback, yet they create substatial returs i the future. To stay focused o your stregths, you will eed to maage your iterruptios ad keep the low-payoff activities to a miimum. I spite of the priceless value of time, may people egage each day o its ow terms. I other words, they satisfy the various demads of the day as they are preseted; spedig whatever time is eeded to respod without givig much thought as to the relative value of the activity. This is a reactive approach i which the day is cotrollig you, thus prevetig you from performig at your best. Time Blockig The key to successful time use itetioal time use is ot tryig to elimiate these uplaed iterruptios, but istead to block out regular time each week dedicated to the strategically importat tasks. We call this Performace Time ad fid that it is the best approach to effectively allocatig time that we have ever ecoutered. Performace Time is a easy-to-use system that allows you to operate your busiess ad life by spedig your most valuable asset your time with itetio. It utilizes a simple time-blockig system to gai cotrol of your day ad maximize your effectiveess. There are three primary compoets of Performace Time: strategic blocks, buffer blocks, ad breakout blocks. STRATEGIC BLOCK A Strategic Block is a 3-hour block of uiterrupted time that is scheduled i advace. Durig these blocks you accept o phoe calls, o faxes, o s, o visitors o metal iterruptios. You focus all your eergies o the preplaed items the strategic ad moey-makig activities. Doig so cocetrates your itellect ad creativity ad produces breakthrough results. You will be astouded by the quatity ad quality of the work you produce. For most people, oe strategic block per week is sufficiet. BUFFER BLOCK Buffer Blocks are created to deal with all of the uplaed ad low-value activities like most ad voic that arise throughout a typical day. Almost othig is more uproductive ad frustratig tha dealig with costat iterruptios, yet we ve all had days whe uplaed items domiated our time. A Buffer Block allows you to take what would otherwise be iefficiet activity ad make it more productive by groupig it together. I this way you ca hadle each item expeditiously ad move through the list with some mometum. This allows you to stay focused throughout the day o the importat activities. For some, oe 30-miute buffer block a day is sufficiet, while for others, two separate oe-hour blocks may be ecessary. The power of buffer blocks comes from groupig together activities that ted to be uproductive so that you ca icrease your efficiecy i dealig with them ad take greater cotrol over the rest of your day. BREAK-OUT BLOCK Oe of the key factors cotributig to performace plateaus is the absece of free time. So ofte, etrepreeurs ad professioals get caught up i workig loger ad harder. This approach is a eergy ad ethusiasm killer. To achieve greater results what s ecessary is ot more hours. O the cotrary, ofte it is more free time. A Break-out Block is a miimum 3 hour block of scheduled time that is devoid of ay work related activities ad thoughts. It is time set aside to rejuveate ad repleish. Use this time for fu. Ejoy the hobbies i your life. Sped time with family ad frieds. Play golf. Go shoppig. Get some exercise. Go fishig, or sailig whatever you like to do that is o-work related. You eed this time to rebuild your reserves ad to ope yourself up to fresh ideas ad perspectives. Bejami Frakli said, If we take care of the miutes, the years will take care of themselves. Everythig that we achieve i life happes i the cotext of time. The reality is that if you are ot purposeful about how you sped your time, the you leave your results to chace. While it s true that we cotrol our actios ad ot our outcomes, our results are created by our actios. It stads to reaso that the actios that we choose to take throughout our day, ultimately determie our destiy. To realize your potetial, you must lear to be more midful about how you sped your time. Livig with clear itetio goes agaist the powerful atural tedecy to be reactive because it requires you to orgaize your life aroud your priorities ad cosciously choose those activities that alig with your goals ad visio. Whe you use your time itetioally, you waste less of it ad sped more of it o your high-value actios. Itetioality is your secret weapo i your war o mediocrity. The key to successful time use is ot ecessarily i elimiatig uplaed iterruptios but i regularly blockig out time for the importat activities. Just gaiig cotrol over a few hours each week ofte has a dramatic effect. Lear to use your time with greater itetio ad you will ot oly be more effective, but you will also feel a greater sese of cotrol, less stress, ad icreased cofidece. Try Time Blockig, it works! About the Author New York Times best-sellig author of The 12 Week Year, Bria P. Mora speaks to groups aroud the globe o leadership. To iquire about havig him at your ext meetig visit Idepedet Cable News 5

4 Cash Flow SubscriberWise: A Multi-Faceted Tool Protectig ad Eablig Cable Operators By Seth Arestei Cable operators are fidig a aalytical software solutio ot oly checks o cosumer s credit history ad idetity but also improves operatioal efficiecy ad assists i segmeted marketig. Walk i to a bak ad ask for a $1,000, usecured loa. You give the bak oly your ame, address ad a picture I.D., ot your credit history or Social Security umber. The bak, somewhat blidly, gives you a check for $1,000 o the spot. This would ever happe, right? Thik agai. Whe a small or medium-size cable operator istalls expesive, sophisticated boxes ad other equipmet i a ew subscriber s home without coductig a credit check it essetially is re-creatig the usecured loa sceario. The operator trusts that a relatively ukow party will cotiue to pay the mothly cable bill beyod the first moth, which ofte is required at the time of istallatio. More importat, the operator is trustig that the ew customer will retur $1,000 or more i capital equipmet should service be cacelled based o the customer s failure to pay his/her cable bill i a timely fashio. That s a lot of trust, especially i today s digital age, whe cable operators are offerig ot oly video, but voice ad data, ad the expesive equipmet that goes with these services. Here s aother sceario. As we kow, the vast majority of calls to iitiate cable service are legitimate. Ufortuately, ot all are. Callers who previously have bee deied service for failure to pay their cable bill ad/or retur equipmet will go to great legths to purchase cable agai; sometimes they will go as far as committig fraud. Take the case of the woma who called the local cable compay ad requested service. Istead of providig the customer service represetative (CSR) with her true idetity, she used her uderage daughter s ame ad Social Security umber. Fortuately, the cable operator i this case, a mid-size compay whose idetity we have bee asked to protect, is oe of 30 small ad The SubscriberWise brai trust: (left to right) Presidet David Howe, Chief Systems Egieer Mark Hoffer ad VP/CFO David Hoffer. mid-size operator-members of SubscriberWise, a aalytics-drive risk maagemet tool developed for the idustry by cable veteras. Shortly after the CSR had etered the woma s iformatio ito his computer, he clicked his mouse ad set SubscriberWise i motio. Checkig o Data i Real-Time Behid the scees, SubscriberWise was checkig: for cotradictory iformatio; for federal govermet-madated Red Flags; whether deposit limits were idicated ad for what products; whether the customer was a best prospect ad could be eligible for a up-sell; whether a prior request for cable had bee made by the same Social Security umber; ad whether additioal iformatio should be requested, such as employmet or refereces. Ad it was doig this i real-time, checkig the iformatio agaist a series of data bases maitaied by SubscriberWise ad its techology parters. Just a few secods later SubscriberWise set a message to the CSR sayig that the woma s iformatio had come back as a o-hit. Apparetly this potetial customer was, like characters i a Hitchcock film, ot who she claimed to be. The message o the computer scree aroused the CSR s suspicios about the caller. Armed with the message SubscriberWise helped geerate, the CSR was able to fiish the call i a professioal maer; he was ot accusatory. The potetial customer was told she would have to pay a sigificat equipmet deposit prior to istallatio. The call eded with the customer electig ot to receive cable service at that time. The story cotiues, however. The CSR set a report about the call to the cable compay s credit departmet. Usig iformatio geerated whe SubscriberWise obtaied a credit check o the caller, it later became clear that the woma had stole her mior daughter s idetity i a effort to obtai cable service, posig as a perso who had ot previously purchased cable service. The woma had bee deied service previously because she owed a balace o a past cable bill. The father of the child owed eve more moey o a separate cable bill ad had failed to retur equipmet. A supervisor from the cable operator called the woma ad iformed her that she had committed a crime uder federal law by stealig her daughter s idetity. [To prepare this article, Subscriber- Wise provided ICN with a recordig of the call.] After iitially deyig the charge, the woma admitted to what she had doe, pleaded igorace of the law ad promised to pay her deliquet bill ad iform the child s father to retur the operator s equipmet. After the woma assured the supervisor that she had ever doe this before, the cable executive iformed her he would verify that state- 6 November 2013 Idepedet Cable News met ad if she had ot previously purloied her daughter s idetity to apply for cable service, he would let the matter drop. If I fid evidece of you havig doe this before I will tur it over to the authorities, the executive said, addig that the actio costituted a federal offese. The woma thaked him profusely. Educatio, Not Puishmet I m glad this was a educatioal experiece ad that Subscriber- Wise protected the cable operator ad the little girl ad that her mother admitted that she d doe somethig wrog, says David Howe, presidet of SubscriberWise. Part of our job is to protect cable operators, ot get customers i trouble, he adds. While SubscriberWise has dealt with about oe-thousad similar cases, we rarely ask for a crimial prosecutio; we do ot take a puitive approach. That said, cable vet Howe otes, i terms of idetity theft, paretal idetity theft is the largest threat we face i the idustry. SubscriberWise, which provides cosumer credit scores to operators based solely o umerical guidelies, was developed at Massillo Cable (MCTV) iitially to reduce the amout of bad debt the compay dealt with ad to protect it agaist equipmet losses, thus icreasig operatioal efficiecies. Ohio-based MCTV, which serves 45,000 customers, made SubscriberWise available to the idustry seve years ago. It ow is a NCTC preferred solutios provider. Marketig Help While the above sceario is a relatively sexy example of SubscriberWise i actio, the bulk of what the system does each day is provide operators with a safe ad legal way to assess customers ability to pay their bills ad check whether they ve failed to pay bills previously. Based o this score, operators determie the size of the deposit they will require of a customer. Beyod that, however, SubscriberWise has become a much more versatile tool for operators. Jerry McKea, SVP ad Chief Sales & Marketig Officer at Cable Oe Ic, the 10th largest-operator i the coutry, emphasizes how his compay used SubscriberWise to move from a Market Share strategy to a Lifetime Value Strategy (LTV). Rather tha focusig o the triple-play ad broad discoutig, our marketig ow is all about segmetatio, targetig ad lifetime value, McKea told fellow operators durig a speech last summer at the Idepedet Show i Sa Diego, where Cable Oe was hoored as Idepedet Operator of the Year by CableFAX Magazie. The LTV strategy targets high-value customers ad eschews those who are less likely to stick with ad pay for cable services over the log term. Segmeted usig iformatio supplied by Subscriber- Wise credit checks, LTV customers are more likely to take multiple services ad provide much higher profitability, McKea said i a recet iterview. Last fall [September 2012] we istituted credit checks usig SubscriberWise for all ew customers, he said durig the Sa Diego speech. The results are that while our residetial PSUs [Primary Service Uits] are dow 3.5%, which is a little scary, ARPU is up $7.00 versus first-half of MCTV chief Bob Gesser gave the gree light for SubscriberWise to be marketed to the cable idustry. He also specified that it be affordable to small operators, so they could beefit from its predictive aalytics. SubscriberWise by the Numbers $25 millio Estimated amout SubscriberWise has saved the idustry i lost equipmet, fraud ad bad debt aually. At least 1,000 Estimated umber of child idetity thefts ad cases of misuse of persoally idetifiable iformatio preveted by SubscriberWise. 30 Number of cable operators usig SubscriberWise. 0 The umber of cable operators who have left SubscriberWise after joiig. 100% Compliat with federal, state ad local laws. 17 Scorig parameters with multi-dimesioal predictive variables. 8 Risk levels, which also ca be used to offer subscriber segmetatio. Source: SubscriberWise 2012, o-pay discouts are dow 51%, bad debt has bee cut i half, chur is droppig rapidly ad operatig cash flow is up 10.8%. I a iterview, McKea said SubscriberWise is a great way to reduce chur amog ew customers, especially o-pay chur. Ad it will also result i a sigificat reductio i bad debt. The et is that you wid up with higher-quality customers. Icreasig Operatioal Efficiecies While SubscriberWise s cotributio i helpig Cable Oe, which serves 730,000 customers, chage its marketig strategy is cosiderable, perhaps the beefits of the system for smaller operators, who are less able to absorb the cost of lost equipmet ad bad-debt customers, are more sigificat. Take ImO Commuicatios of Iowa, which has fewer tha 20,000 customers. Prior to its associatio with SubscriberWise, a ew, potetial customer callig ImO s offices to order cable was a blak slate. If you were ot a prior customer of ours, we had o backgroud iformatio o you at all, ImO Presidet Patrice Carroll says. Although all ew customers must pay their first moth s bill at the time of istallatio, without SubscriberWise the operator had to be a lot more trustig of a customer ew to the area, Carroll admits. A user of SubscriberWise for three years, Carroll says she s see a drastic reductio more tha 50%, i the umber of accouts we discoect for o-pay. I additio, there s bee a major dowtur i the amout of bad debt the compay is hadlig, most of which is associated with equipmet ot beig retured. That s a area that s really improved as a result of usig SubscriberWise ad oe that used to absorb a lot of ma-hours, she adds. Iitially, for the first six moths to a year, SubscriberWise was a bit rough o our salespeople, Car- Cable Oe SVP ad Chief Sales ad Marketig Officer Jerry McKea credits SubscriberWise with helpig his compay to chage its marketig strategy to oe aimed at highervalue, log-term customers. 7

5 Providig FTTH Solutios Icludig GPON, RFoG ad HFC Applicatios About the Author Seth Arestei is a freelace writer ad editor based i Washigto, D.C. He was Editorial Director of the CableFAX family of publicatios for 13 years ad worked i govermet relatios for Time Warer Cable for two years. He cotiues his associatio with CableFAX as a regular cotributor to CableFAX Daily ad cablefax.com roll admits, because we bega turig away sales. About 30% of ImO s prospective customers who are asked to make a deposit, based o their SubscriberWise score ad the amout of equipmet to be istalled, choose to forego ImO s services, Carroll reports. Still, et et, salespeople s commissios improved because more customers [vetted by SubscriberWise] stuck beyod a iitial paymet; they were ot what we call oe ad doe, customers who make the iitial paymet ad the ever pay us agai. Evetually, she says, our salespeople bega sellig smarter because of SubscriberWise. You have to stay the course, though. Aother thig that improved with SubscriberWise, Carroll says, is ImO foud it is gettig a higher rate of customers meetig their istall appoitmets. Istead of goig through all the work of settig up a appoitmet ad rollig out a truck ad fidig the customer could t pay or simply did t show up for the appoitmet, we ve foud our operatioal metrics have improved with the customers who have bee checked by SubscriberWise. This is a added Dasa Products are Proudly Used by NCTC Members:» US Soet» New Koxville Telephoe» Accelerated Networks» Washigto Couty Rural Coop beefit that we did t expect to see with credit-scorig software, Carroll says. She adds that ImO is very satisfied with Subscriber- Wise [ad] we re explorig some of its other features i terms of idetity theft ad fraud. Affordable by Desig It is importat to ote that SubscriberWise is able to offer services at below market value, providig small operators with the same predictive aalytics used by the world s largest baks, Howe says. Operators who make fewer tha 100 requests per moth are charged $3.25 per iquiry; those who make 50,000 each moth pay just $1.16 per iquiry. This pricig structure is eabled by ecoomies of scale ad because MCTV offers server ad office space for Subscriber- Wise ad pays its small staff. This always was [MCTV Presidet] Bob Gesser s wish, Howe says, that we price our services so small operators could use it at a reasoable cost. This type of behavior is par for the course for Gesser, who s well kow for thikig of the cable idustry as a whole, ad has bee sharig the fruits of MCTV s kowledge with fellow NCTC ad ACA members for years. While SubscriberWise reduces trust with predictive aalytics, trust remais part of the equatio. SubscriberWise essetially is a hadshake busiess. We do t require ay cotracts or commitmets from operators, Howe says. We make all the ivestmet, we build the system, trai the CSRs ad if a operator decides after two days they do t like it, there s absolutely o capital cost or future commitmet. There s also o aual fee or membership fee. A start-up charge of $1200 is waived for NCTC members. I seve years of providig SubscriberWise, ot a sigle cable operator has cacelled its membership. November 2013 Vol. XXI - No. 9 Editor & Publisher Robert A. Searle rsearle@searlepub.com phoe: Associate Publisher Roderick Robles rrobles@searlepub.com phoe: Idepedet Cable News is published mothly by Searle Publishig Co., Ic., 40 West Littleto Blvd. Suite , Littleto, Colorado POSTMASTER: Sed address chages to INDEPEN- DENT CABLE NEWS, 40 West Littleto Blvd. # , Littleto, CO Subscriptios: Free to members of ACA ad NCTC. The publisher hereby grats permissio for photocopyig or repritig ay portio of this publicatio for purposes other tha re-sale, providig the source is cited. Prited by Hall Commercial Pritig, Topeka, Kasas Searle Publishig Co. Ic Fax ic@searlepub.com 8 November 2013 Maagemet What Leadership Is NOT 3 Leadership Myths to Avoid By Erick Lauber, Ph.D. Bradley was failig, ad failig badly. Not oly did the members of his team avoid him i the luchroom ad ever stop by to say good morig, they had begu tapig a target to his back every day ad everyoe had siged up for archery lessos. Bradley s leadership style just was t workig. Ufortuately, Bradley s core problem was that he suffered from several leadership myths he d picked up from pop culture. Like may of us, he did t have ay formal traiig i leadership, so his beliefs came mostly from watchig movies. Leadership to Bradley was square-jawed me takig o isurmoutable odds, rallyig the troops with award-wiig speeches, ad humbly waitig for passioate kisses from pretty co-stars. Bradley thought he was prepared to be a great leader because though he did t have a square jaw ad o oe had tried to kiss him i years, he had bee practicig his motivatioal speeches i the mirror. He had worked up his volume to passig car with the bass too loud level, ad he could spew out all of the latest leadership buzzwords without spittig too much. But somehow it just was t workig. What Bradley did t realize was that his ailmets were completely fixable. They are pretty commo today. Perhaps you ve see these leadership myths i actio: 1. The Myth of Omipotece This should t be cofused with the myth of omiipresece (the power to be everywhere) or the myth of omiplexes (the power to watch all of the movies i a theater o oly oe ticket). The myth of omipotece is thikig you ca tell ayoe o your team to do practically aythig ad they re goig to just hop to it, with a gri ad a od ad a commet that meas You got it, boss. I d walk through fire for you. It might happe i the movies but we kow i reality a brad ew leader does t automatically get ethusiastic cooperatio. He or she more ofte gets quiet acceptace, or perhaps begrudgig compliace. Buildig cooperatio ad eergetic participatio requires time ad careful urturig i the real world. You might have to liste to a co-worker tell that ufuy story about their ephew s brief stit with the Ice Capades. You might have to ot get your way a few times i order to collaborate with your team. Real humas do t give blid obediece because of someoe s positio i a orgaizatio. Ad leaders ca t alieate people, eve if they do suspect some of them might be possessed by alies. 2. The Myth of Omisciece This is the belief that beig the leader meas kowig everythig about everythig. It comes i two varieties. I some eviromets, it makes the brad ew leader micromaage ad attempt to oversee the smallest detail. I others, it makes the leader thik they have to kow the aswer to every questio. Why else would they be the leader? Bradley had these two issues. He started lookig over everyoe s shoulder. Bradley also ever failed to give a aswer eve whe he was clueless. His staff oticed. They eve started readig questios from the back of a quatum physics text book just to mess with him. 3. The Myth of Omi-Adrealie This is probably the most damagig myth i today s complex, skill-drive busiess eviromets. It is the belief that excellet executio from a team demads adrealie surges, rousig speeches ad lots of shoutig. Every movie has such ispiratioal momets ad Bradley tried to create them every day. Ufortuately, it did t seem to work o his crew. Bradley s attempts at motivatig were actually hurtig his team s performace, ot helpig. Shoutig ad adrealie surges are oly useful for ivokig overleared, midless performace i the face of fear ad actual physiological arousal. Military uits ad sports teams are perfect for this type of leadership. They also provide clear wiers ad losers ad are woderful backdrops for the kid of dramatic storytellig Hollywood thrives o. Would you wat to see a movie about complex, skill-drive teams toilig day after day to solve logistics issues, problems with customer service, or tryig to get the copier ma to arrive o time? But adrealie surges also arrow cogitio ad thikig. Today s America work eviromet demads creative problem solvig, flexible decisio makig ad complex reasoig. Whe was the last time you had to jump o a greade or charge ito a eemy bayoet lie? A leader sufferig from omiadrealie i the moder workplace looks clueless ad simple-mided. Why is he shoutig? I m tryig to cocetrate over here! Americas ad movie watchers worldwide are taught myths about leadership every day. The myths of omipotece, omisciece ad omi-adrealie are just a few of the leadership stereotypes that ca be fixed with traiig or metorship. Fortuately, these ioculatios are available i all kids of dosage sizes. Everyoe ca get access to leadership traiig i today s techology-coected world. Ad why ot? Would t you wat to create a more productive, cooperative workplace by dispellig the myths of leadership you suffer from? About the Author Erick Lauber, Ph.D., is a applied psychologist ad faculty at Idiaa Uiversity of Pesylvaia. He speaks ad cosults o leadership, persoal growth ad developmet, ad takig charge of our ow life stories. He has wo 19 educatioal TV/film awards ad has published i umerous psychology jourals ad book chapters. His video log is located at Cotact: or call Idepedet Cable News 9

6 Busiess News Cords/cables, remote cotrols, CG s, as well as repair services for all types of CATV equipmet. For more iformatio, visit ICN Busiess Directory Multicom Aouces Remote Headed Server Multicom, maufacturer ad full-lie stockig distributor for edto-ed video-data-voice solutios, is proud to itroduce its Total- Guardia Remote Headed Server product lie which ow provides the capability to remotely maitai ad service a wide variety of headeds that have ever had that capability ad to dramatically exted the life ad capabilities of legacy systems tightly itegratig the operatios of state-of-the-art HD video techology with those legacy headeds all remotely cotrolled usig a smartphoe, tablet, or PC. For more iformatio, call , multicom@multicomic.com or visit MAVTV Adds Four More NCTC Affiliates MAVTV has siged with four ew NCTC affiliates which iclude Beaver Valley Cable, Rome, PA; GTA TeleGuam, Guam; Baldwi Cablevisio, Baldwi, IA; ad Chatmoss Cablevisio, Daville, VA. With these ew sigigs MAVTV has added 19 ew affiliates sice August 1st. We are cotiuig to grow MAVTV, said Bob Patiso, Presidet of MAVTV America Real... [ad] the growth with the idepedet distributors is very ecouragig Owed ad operated by Lucas Oil Products, MAVTV is a televisio etwork with its roots deep i the automotive world. With a lie-up of motorsports evets ad exclusive automotive reality shows, the etwork is the aswer for motorheads from all walks of life. But MAVTV is much more tha a motorsports destiatio, with origial actio/adveture programmig, live MMA ad a ubelievable library of blockbuster movies is a etwork the whole family ca ejoy. For more iformatio, log oto Comuicacioes IBW Selects Azar s Digital Service Ceter for NASRAC Provisioig. Azar Computer Software has aouced that they have successfully migrated Comuicacioes IBW from their previous provisioig software provider to Azar s Digital Service Ceter, savig IBW well over 50% i their mothly recurrig provisioig expese. Workig with the staff at IBW we were able to cofigure a package that will allow them sigificat savigs, well over 50%, compared to their previous provisioig solutio. said Robert P Wheeler, Vice Presidet at Azar Computer Software. Additioally, the easy to use ad avigate web applicatio allows them to maage their subscriber equipmet from ay web browser with o additioal software to istall. For more iformatio about Azar s suite of subscriber billig, maagemet ad provisioig solutios, cotact: Robert Wheeler at , sales@azaric, or visit Cable Techologies Sigs NCTC Cotract Cable Techologies Iteratioal, Ic., of Hatboro, PA has aouced the sigig of a cotract with the Natioal Cable Televisio Cooperative, Ic. Pete Morse CEO of Cable Techologies, said We are pleased ad excited to be able to provide the may members of the NCTC our wide rage of products ad services. We see the NCTC as a growig presece i the CATV marketplace ad the NCTC is a essetial piece of the puzzle that eables a supplier to grow. A NCTC spokesperso said we are i a expasio mode ad Cable Techologies is the type of supplier we are lookig for great quality, good pricig, a broad product lie ad great customer service... Cable Techologies Iteratioal is a leadig supplier of CPE equipmet, icludig ew ad refurbished set top boxes, power packs, HD NewWave Reews Multi-Year Cotract with IBBS IBBS, the provider of cloud-based data ad voice support services for Tier 2 ad 3 broadbad ad cable providers, has aouced that Sikesto, Missouri-based NewWave Commuicatios has reewed its relatioship with IBBS i a multi-year cotract for data ad voice provisioig ad support services. The deal also ecompasses subscribers that RBI/NewWave recetly acquired from CMA Commuicatios ad McDoald Group both compaies that were also IBBS customers prior to the acquisitio. IBBS robust Software as a Service (SaaS) platform, systems architecture, ad expertise make our partership with them the oly choice for esurig that we deliver the highest quality broadbad services to our customers, said Ke Johso, COO at NewWave Commuicatios. We cosider IBBS to be a extesio of our compay. They have bee a dedicated parter i the growth of our busiess ad our broadbad services ad their expertise i providig seamless service migratios has bee itegral to our success. IBBS is headquartered outside Atlata, Ga. with regioal offices i Vacouver, Caada; Lexigto, Ky.; ad Cartersville, Ga. Lear more about IBBS ad its service portfolio at Aurora Networks Lauches Idustry-first 5-85 MHz Upgradable Node Solutio Aurora Networks, Ic., the optical access solutio provider for cable operators, debuted a fully upgradeable 5-85 MHz retur path solutio at SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. Featurig Aurora s MHz dowstream-capable odes coupled with its Uiversal Digital Retur techology, it is the oly solutio o the market that ca be purchased ad seamlessly upgraded from 5-42 MHz to 5-85 MHz i the retur path. The solutio cosists of Aurora s NC4000 ad NC2000 odes that support a 5 85 MHz retur path. Moreover, for the first time with Aurora Networks Uiversal Digital Retur solutio, DT4250N, a operator ca purchase 5-42 MHz techology today ad the upgrade a etire ode to 5-85 MHz tomorrow, with the retur path trasmitter requirig oly the push of a butto. To lear more about Aurora Networks core solutios, call or visit Pivot Selects Comcast Wholesale for Multiplatform Cotet Delivery Pivot, Participat Media s ew televisio etwork targetig Milleials (18-34) has selected the Comcast Wholesale media platforms to provide multiplatform cotet delivery services, the two compaies have aouced. The Pivot TV chael is ow available via the HITS Q2 stadard defiitio satellite platform o AMC 18. Because HITS uses techology that builds upo widely available MPEG-2 ifrastructure, Pivot s carriage o HITS provides the etwork s affiliates usig MPEG-2 with a alterative to purchasig the additioal equipmet required for acquirig ad dow-covertig MPEG-4 satellite feeds. I additio, Pivot has tapped the Comcast Wholesale VOD cotet delivery platform to maage distributio of its Pivot o demad programmig. Pivot s origial series iclude Raisig McCai featurig Megha McCai, Jersey Strog, TakePart Live ad Please Like Me. I additio, U.S. televisio premieres of feature films o Pivot have icluded Terms & Coditios May Apply ad 99%: The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film. A divisio of Comcast Cable, Comcast Wholesale offers third party busiesses access to services ad techologies developed ad prove by a idustry leader icludig HITS (Headed i the Sky) ad the Comcast Media Ceter. 10 November 2013 Customer Support & Software Solutios Billig Collectios After Hours Support 24/7 Customer Care Coverget Billig (800) Workforce Maagemet WEB Based Customer Care Cliet Hosted or i the Cloud Itegrated Provisioig Solutios Provisioig Help Desk Subscriber Maagemet Software Cloud Based Stad Aloe Provisioig Solutios Offer Guarateed Savigs of over 50% Compared to other Digital Service Bureau Solutios Powerful Subscriber Billig ad Maagemet Solutios Digital Data VoIP PPV VOD TVE ATTENTION AD SALES TEAMS ShowSeeker is a web-based Search & Select program built by Cable Accout Executives ad Maagers for Ad Sales Teams. Searches for relevat fixed programmig for your advertiser s busiess by Keyword, Title, Actors, Gere, Premieres, Fiales, Live Sports, Oly New programmig ad more. Add rotators ad prit i full color or to your cliet i miutes. Quickly create a proposal ad sed to traffic with a simple click. us at ifo@showseeker.com to schedule a olie Executive Overview. Visit us at Emergecy Alert Systems by To Meet the FCC Madate or frachise requiremets Complete Audio & Video or Audio-Oly Systems Compatible with all Headeds RF or IF Solutios Startig Uder $5, Fax Pioeers i Emergecy Alert Systems It s true. Addig SubscriberWise has bee a key factor i our bad debt reductio ad limitig the operatioal expese associated with o-pay accouts. - Amy C. Tykeso Presidet/CEO, BedBroadbad Phoe: ifo@subscriberwise.com Web: Idepedet Cable News 1 1

7 POWERFULRETURN MOST LIVE HOURS, TOP-RANKED RATINGS, BEST TALENT AND LOWEST LICENSE FEE OF SPORTS NETWORKS = BEST VALUE 2012 total live/first ru hours 2013 E average price per sub per moth wherechampioslive 1 Teis Chael 1,958 $ Golf Chael 1,868 $ NBC Sports Network* 939 $ MLB Network 922 $ NBA TV 752 $ NFL Network 301 $ NHL Network /a $ CBS Sports Network /a $0.23 Average of competitive etworks 956 $0.42 Total hours are live ad same day, tape delay game or touramet coverage for caledar 2012; Licese fees based o SNL Kaga, 2Q 2013 *With Olympic coverage, NBC Sports Network had 1329 hours Jim Courier Joh McEroe Martia Navratilova Bill Macatee Tracy Austi Mary Carillo Ted Robiso Lidsay Daveport Cotact Lee Schlazer, VP, Distributio Susie Romao, Executive Director, Affiliate Marketig ad Sales