Latest in NCTA

Trade organizations representing the nation’s biggest Internet providers today sued California to halt the state’s new net neutrality law. The American Cable Association, the wireless industry’s trade group (CTIA), the Internet and television association (NCTA) and the broadband association (USTelecom) jointly filed…

The cable industry’s chief trade association is ready to retire the “cable” reference. Starting today, the NCTA no longer stands for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association. The organization has changed its name to NCTA – The Internet & Television Association. "NCTA represents members that are building the…

Movie and cable lobbyists say that they ““welcome further examination of the reasons behind societal violence” — the rationale behind the bill to be marked up at the Senate Commerce Committee today that would require the National Academy of Sciences to study the impact that violent videos and games have on kids. The…

The apparent dig at Verizon FiOS, AT&T U-verse and Google Fiber was made this morning by National Cable & Telecommunications Association CEO Michael Powell in the kick off to the trade group’s annual confab, taking place this year in Washington, D.C. “We don't cherry pick the most lucrative customers,” the former FCC…

The new voluntary agreement appears to delay the cable industry’s previous plan to reduce the amount of energy used by set-top boxes. Last year the National Cable & Telecommunications Association said that “by the end of 2013” at least 90% of the set-top boxes that its members buy and deploy will comply with the…

The cable industry is livid today over a new FCC order that makes it harder for pay TV distributors to mess around with independently owned channels. Regulators clarified the rules of engagement called for by the 1992 Cable Act to resolve contract disputes that channels have with cable and satellite companies. One…

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts closed the annual National Cable Show this morning by giving executives a glimpse of their future transmitting TV shows via the broadband cloud. He says that some of his systems over the next several years will offer transmission speeds of more than 1 gigabite per second — fast enough to…

Hollywood is very much on the minds of cable executives meeting in Chicago this week at the National Cable & Telecommunications Association’s annual trade show. Introducing Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel for his welcoming remarks, Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav said that “in our industry he’s known as Ari’s…

Ad sales are improving for cable but they may not pop as much as many in the industry had hoped, according to information presented at this morning’s opening session of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association’s annual trade show. “The jury’s still out on what the economic outlook will be in the second half…

Cable Show: Will Economic Pressures Force Cable Operators To Offer Fewer Channels? Wall Street analysts warned cable operators on Tuesday that they’d better fix their clunky user interfaces and lousy consumer service if they want to avoid a showdown with Internet and technology powers such as Google and Apple. The big…

Now we know why Michael Powell never met a media merger he didn’t like. The chairman of the FCC under George W. Bush (and son of Colin Powell) replaces Kyle McSlarrow at the National Cable & Telecommunications Association. McSlarrow last week left the trade group to became Comcast’s man in Washington. From the…