- NCTC plans to launch a new streaming platform that its broadband service providers can offer to their customers
- The offer could help stop the decline in video subscribers
- Further details will be announced next week at the Independent Show in Nashville, Tennessee.
The National Content & Technology Cooperative (NCTC) wants to help small broadband operators to slow the decline in video subscribers. NCTC and ACA Connects are hosting their annual Independent Show for Smaller Broadband Operators next week in Nashville. There, NCTC plans to introduce a new over-the-top TV offering called NCTC Broadband TV.
NCTC supports its members by using its purchasing power to negotiate contracts on their behalf. For example, last year it negotiated a contract with AT&T and mobile virtual network provider Reach Next to provide its members with a turnkey platform for delivering mobile services.
This year, NCTC is focusing on helping its members offer streaming video services.
As everyone knows, cable customers have been canceling their cable TV plans for years and focusing more on streaming video subscriptions. Some smaller operators have abandoned the video business entirely. But the NCTC wants to help operators offer a stripped-down bundle of channels to retain as many video subscribers as possible.
“Giving customers who unbundle their services a video option as broadband customers – that’s a great value,” said Lou Borrelli, CEO of NCTC.
He gave Fierce Network a sneak peek of the programming he will introduce to members on next week’s show. He said NCTC Broadband TV will offer about 35 well-known channels at a reasonable price. Although NCTC does not set prices, he said, “I estimate it will be $20 a month or less.”
As for the technology behind NCTC Broadband TV, he said the service will run as an application on the public internet and can be accessed using a variety of different devices at the customer’s home, including TiVo boxes, traditional cable TV boxes, Amazon TV Fire Stick or Evolution Digital devices.
“The key here is that it will work with whatever technology the service provider wants to use,” Borrelli said. “It will be platform agnostic. The most important thing is that it’s about the customer experience and the ability to access the channels they (the customers) want.”
NCTC Broadband TV will launch later this year.
MVNOs and AI
It’s been more than a year since NCTC launched its mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) initiative. Earlier this summer, telecom analysts at S&P Global released a report suggesting that small cable operators entering the wireless business don’t have much chance of success. But Jared Baumann, NCTC’s vice president of technology innovation, fired back with some counterarguments.
Last week, Borrelli told Fierce: “Our MVNO rollout is continuing and we will have more to share about it at the show.”
The NCTC is also working to help its members navigate the artificial intelligence (AI) landscape. It is establishing an AI Center of Excellence to help members review AI applications.
“If you are a mid-sized company and you keep hearing how AI can help your business, but you don’t really have the internal resources, we look at different types of applications and negotiate a preferential rate on behalf of the members,” Borrelli said.
Regulatory policy
The other host of the Independent Show is ACA Connects, a group focused on regulatory policy for small broadband providers.
ACA Connects was recently pleased that the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld net neutrality – a ruling the company views as a major victory for small operators that don’t want additional regulatory burdens.
Grant Spellmeyer, president and CEO of ACA Connects, said there will be “a little bit of schadenfreude” during the upcoming show, but “just because the court issued an injunction doesn’t mean net neutrality is restored.”
He expects to spend a lot of time talking to members about the political landscape in 2025 and all the possible outcomes depending on who wins the presidential election. ACA Connects members are concerned about bulk billing rules, digital discrimination requirements, broadband label regulations, the Universal Service Fund and the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program.
Of the BEAD program, Spellmeyer said, “I continue to wrestle with (NTIA chief) Davidson on a number of policy decisions related to a number of issues – labor standards, affordability requirements.”
Organizers of this year’s Independent Show are expecting “close to 1,000” attendees, perhaps 100 fewer than last year. They attribute the slight decline to moving the date a little closer to the start of the school year so it doesn’t clash with the recent Fiber Connect conference.
