Powell on a roll at cable show

CHICAGO—Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Michael Powell somersaulted onto the stage to deliver the keynote address at today’s National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) Cable 2001. Then he really got on a roll.

“A grateful nation will place many hopes on what you offer. The country needs you,” Powell told the assemblage of cable service providers, programmers and vendors. The need, he emphasized, is not without some responsibility for an industry that is being transformed from a “frog” into a “prince” thanks to a “digital kiss.”

Powell said cable “is unquestionably well positioned” in the broadband space as a “viable competitive alternative” to existing service providers. Even so, he said, the industry’s telecommunications efforts “have yet to meet expectations, but will move forward.”

Powell said he was most concerned with cable’s past reputation and proclivity to “snatch defeat from the jaws of victory” by abusing the fruits of success. Now, in the “most positive regulatory environment in decades,” the industry must continue to push forward even when it has “a clear competitive edge,” he said.

Powell particularly focused on one area where cable could serve as a facilitator—or a block: Digital television. The cable industry has been a reluctant participant in the broadcast industry’s excruciatingly slow move to digital television. That reluctance has been noted by federal regulators who would like cable to be a partner “rather than its obstacle,” he said.

“Help make this a reality in a commercially viable way,” Powell urged, adding that cable should also help facilitate interactive TV among all the programming communities.

Cable’s challenge, one “worthy of a prince,” is to provide competitive telephone service and offer and expand the diversity of information, news and entertainment, Powell added.

His personal challenge, to enter with the somersault, was issued back stage after a troupe of acrobats had performed just prior to the session’s opening.

“I’m not one to shrink from a challenge,” he said.