Cable shows vital signs

The cable TV industry is already talking about its comeback, which is ironic because the usual gaggle of crowd-creating distractions-celebrities, wildly imaginative booths, soft porn-at last week's Cable '97 show in New Orleans made this year's event look no different from those of recent years. Programming sponged up all the buzz, and the handful of networking companies exhibiting were relegated to an outer ring of the show floor, away from all the fun.

Still, there were a few positive signs that the cable TV industry may be ready to emerge from its mid-1990s slump, heavily characterized by slow or even frozen new network investment, plummeting stock values, huge job cuts, poor customer service and regulatory confusion. Among them:

Several vendors said cable TV operators will reverse at least two years of little or no network spending by beefing up investments over the next three to 12 months. In the last two years, much optimism has surrounded cable modems and other equipment but little commercial investment. However, as the MCNS standard progresses, cable modems are expected to drive a rebound by early next year.

At least a few cable operators said they will begin to concentrate more on marketing, customer service improvements, network investment and new services in their biggest core markets to clarify their operational strategies for Wall Street skeptics. One seminar, in fact, discussed how to communicate with Wall Street.

New TCI President Leo Hindery is gaining both notoriety and the admiration of long-time industry critics. He said he would reverse some of TCI's most recent moves, including a rare admission: The company will rehire some marketing executives it recently fired in an effort to keep its competitive teeth sharp. Hindery also said he will review and possibly discard TCI's questionable strategy for super-regional customer service centers for a more focused strategy. Is he the founder of a new generation of industry leaders that thinks more about competition than the 500-channel universe?

Bob Miron of Advance/Newhouse Communications, the new National Cable TV Association chairman, is stressing customer service improvements as an industrywide goal, reversing a trend of industry denial.

These bits of information could be important vital signs, especially since some people, myself included, were starting to think the industry was about to flatline. Still, it's too early to call the industry a comeback kid. These vital signs have to grow into industrywide movements before that can happen.