While it was a money trail that ultimately determined the fate of Richard Nixon, it will be a fibre trail that determines the next decade s pay-TV winners and losers. With its speed, durability and capacity for bandwidth, fibre is the key to enhanced services, the ones that generate new revenues for operators. How deep into a system fibre is spun generally determines the quality and speed of new services. Fibre is a path to the future that cable systems, telcos and even utilities are taking as they plan for the coming of convergence. To achieve convergence, several important preconditions must exist.
Scale comes as a market matures, through clustering and system consolidation.
Of course, once the market has been wired sufficiently for convergence, and new services start to get tested and rolled out, the next logical step is to reduce that other pesky and hefty cost programming by developing and owning your own content. This issue, the final International Cable of the Millennium, celebrates convergence with its third annual awards issue. 1999 was a seminal year for the international cable community, proving that convergence is real and it is happening in cable systems in all corners of the globe. This issue, we salute five outstanding companies and individuals who are tackling convergence head on and winning. Make a note in your diaries to attend our awards presentation Thursday evening, December 16, in the Western Cable Show s International Lounge, sponsored by International Cable.