When the industry convenes in Los Angeles next week for Cable Show 2014, attendees will have plenty to pique their collective interests.
From a list of top-flight speakers and array of panels cutting across a variety of disciplines, to an exhibit floor with well over 200 exhibitors and an expanded Imagine Park, networking and educational opportunities will abound at the Los Angeles Convention Center from April 29 through May 1.
General session speakers on Tuesday, April 29 include A+E president Nancy Dubuc; Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti; Jerry Kent, chairman of Suddenlink; Rob Marcus, chairman of Time Warner Cable; John Martin, CEO of Turner Broadcasting; NCTA president Michael Powell; and ESPN president and Disney Media Networks co-chairman John Skipper.
Wednesday’s lineup features FCC chairman Tom Wheeler, Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts and Discovery Communications president and CEO David Zaslav. In addition, there is host of talent from the creative community: Michelle Ashford, creator, writer, and executive producer of Showtime's Masters of Sex; Richard LaGravenese, co-creator, writer and executive producer of WEtv's The Divide; and quadruple threat Kurt Sutter, creator, writer, producer, and actor, FX's Sons of Anarchy
Thursday concludes with Cox president Pat Esser; Rob Lloyd, president, development and sales, for Cisco; Josh Sapan, president or AMC Networks; and Matt Weiner, creator, writer, director, executive producer of AMC's Emmy-winning retro advertising drama, Mad Men.
Spread across some 105,000 square feet, 230 exhibitors, including 24 CableNet participants, will show their latest equipment, devices, services and programming.
Imagine Park returns to Cable Show 2014 as the place to gain an early glimpse of what’s next in broadband and television worlds. It’s also the home to a number of informative sessions. Check out the schedule here.
The venue will also house the “Internet of Things,” where visitors can explore the frontier functionality for connected devices. For example, your mobile communicates with your thermostat, which in turn chats with your refrigerator that gossips with your smart door knob. Here, attendees can learn about how machine-to-machine communication via broadband has changed over the last five years and how de riguer it become over the next five.
The Imagine Film Challenge is also on tap, a competition pitting four student teams charged with creating short films of seven minutes or less. The challenge will afford the student squads from Columbia College Chicago, Loyola Marymount University, New York Film Academy and hometown UCLA access to top filmmakers and industry executives, as well as the opportunity to have their work viewed by some of the world’s leading TV and digital media organizations. The films will be shot and edited on the show floor of the LA Convention Center and surrounding areas throughout the Cable Show, with the winner taking home the top prize award following the screenings and deliberations.
The projects will later be broadcast on competition sponsor ShortsHD, which is available on DirecTV and AT&T U-Verse, and across Europe and Africa.
Imagine Park will also serve up Happy Hour, sponsored by Time Warner Cable, on Tuesday from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
