A NUMBER OF PEOPLE have mentioned through 2008 that this has been an especially tumultuous year for the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance, and some have questioned its vitality.
Regulatory changes, economic challenges, member company departures thanks to acquisitions, more new technology. Aren’t all of these issues conspiring to damage the CCSA and its membership? In a word: No. In a few more words: These are the very challenges the CCSA has confronted head-on since its origination. 2008 doesn’t present anything new.
Members have always come and gone. Founding member Fundy Cable is long gone, for example. However, when 500,000-plus-customer EastLink said it would largely like to do its own thing going forward – while still carrying on a relationship with the buying and lobbying group of independent cable operators based in Quispamsis, N.B., many interpreted it as a significant weakening of the organization.
“We’ve had that issue (departing members) from day one. It started with CUC and Classicom, way back when I started in 1994. There has always been that to-ing and fro-ing,” said CCSA president and CEO Alyson Townsend. “As long as we keep adapting to that… we’ll manage to find what we need to find, which is either more volume, more services, or expanding where we can and cutting back where we can.”
Besides, the primary focus of the CCSA’s 90-member companies remains the same, “revenue and expenses – and not necessarily in that order,” notes Townsend. That’s always been the CCSA’s raison d’etre, “and that’s our very clear mandate.
“These companies are so directly tied to their bottom line… (whereas) the industry behemoths have a much more indirect line between revenues and expenses… Prices for many things are going up and programming costs are going up – those are very real expenses. I don’t know if they’re any more real than they were five or 10 years ago, but it’s a battle that we have to keep on top of,” explained Townsend.
Adding that “our relationship is still strong,” with EastLink, in that the Halifax-based company does take part in the terms of a number of CCSA contracts, losing EastLink, or Aurora Cable and others like it, is just part of accepted life at the alliance. Plus, “We probably have one new member join every month, which is difficult for some to believe,” said Townsend.
“One of our strengths is the commitment of our membership.”
That membership – and many others from the industry – will be able to learn and network during a somewhat expanded CCSA annual conference and AGM, September 21-23 at the Fairmont Mont Tremblant, Quebec.
The theme for the gathering is Connect: Summit for Independent Communications.
“We’re taking the emphasis off of the AGM part of it and widening the breadth of the theme so that it’s more applicable than to others than just CCSA member companies,” said Townsend.
The hope is other BDUs as well as additional equipment and programming vendors will feel more included. For the first time, programmers will be able to display their wares during the annual CCSA tabletop trade show, which will be in a larger room at the Fairmont hotel than last year.
“I guess it’s going to be a little bit comparable to what the CCTA used to do, but on a much smaller scale,” says Townsend. “We have no desire to be anything different than what we are in terms of scale, although I think that every year we try to raise the bar a little bit.”
So, Sunday the 21st will be member-focused (and members-only, except for the president’s reception that evening). There will be a best-practices panel discussion that day. “Members wanted more time to talk amongst themselves about regulatory and marketing and technical, and so on, directly with other members,” said Townsend.
Monday, the table top show will not only be in a bigger space, but also longer, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. “It will me much more of a focal point,” she added.
And in order to keep traffic flowing through the trade show, the lunch will be an informal buffet, rather than the usual sit-down meal.
That afternoon, there will be three presentations: Financial Post columnist and author Diane Francis, will speak, as will CRTC vice-chair broadcasting Michel Arpin.
And, CTAM Canada will again take part by providing a panel discussion tentatively called: “Transition to digital, like it or not.” That panel will contain an American operator and broadcaster and will look at the upcoming American transition from conventional analog TV to digital, which is happening this February, to provide a look at what the Canadian industry will have to be ready for prior to our own August 31, 2011 deadline.
Tuesday the 23rd will be the CCSA golf tournament/spa day.
Click on www.ccsa.cable.ca to register.
