Tim Wieland has been named VP and general manager of KCNC Denver. He succeeds Walt DeHaven, who retired, and starts immediately. Wieland has been KCNC news director since 2004. 

The station is part of CBS News and Television Stations. 

“I can’t think of a better example of someone receiving a well-deserved promotion than Tim Wieland,” said Wendy McMahon, president and co-head of CBS News and Stations. “Tim understands the need to modernize and transform our brands and products for the future, and I am confident he will take our great team in Denver to new heights, focused on solid journalism, an unparalleled workplace culture and a community service commitment that is second to none.”

Wieland was the assistant news director at KCNC/CBS 4 from 2001-2004. He started at KCNC in 1992 as a senior news writer and newscast producer and was promoted to executive producer in 1998. He also spent two years at CNN. 

“I feel fortunate to have been able to spend almost my entire career at CBS 4, working alongside such an exceptional group of colleagues in our news department,” Wieland said. “Now, I am excited to take on this broader role and provide leadership and support to our entire CBS Denver family. As part of the newly united CBS News and Stations organization, we have a tremendous opportunity to deliver wins on a daily basis for the mutual benefit of our company, the diverse communities we serve, and our valued business partners.”

Denver hosted the Major League Baseball All-Star Game July 13, with the game’s best showing their stuff at Coors Field. It was also a chance for Denver to show its stuff to the rest of America. “This year especially, it was a coming out party for Colorado,” said KCNC VP and general manager Walt DeHaven, “as we come out of the pandemic.”

The All-Star game was shifted from Atlanta to Denver as a response to new voting laws in Georgia that many voting rights activists oppose. The game “was a big deal for the city, a big deal for the market, and a big deal for Fox, because it aired on our channel,” said Byron Grandy, VP/general manager, KDVR-KWGN. 

The American League dominates the annual mid-summer showdown, and KUSA dominates the news battles in DMA No. 16. Tegna owns NBC affiliate KUSA and MyNetworkTV station KTVD. CBS holds KCNC. Scripps owns ABC outlet KMGH and independent KCDO and Nexstar has Fox affiliate KDVR and CW outlet KWGN. Telemundo station KDEN is part of NBCUniversal Local and Entravision-owned KCEC carries Univision. 

Comcast is the major pay TV operator in Denver. 

KUSA easily won the 6-7 a.m. race in households and viewers 25-54 from January through July 19, and took 5 and 6 p.m. news by a comfortable margin. At 10 p.m., KUSA averaged a 4.45 in households from January to July 19, ahead of KCNC’s 3.13, KMGH’s 2.23, KDVR’s 1.92, KCEC’s 1.15 and KDEN’s 0.57. In the late news demo race, KUSA scored a 1.81, KCEC a 1.03, KDVR a 1.00, KCNC a 0.86, KMGH a 0.63 and KDEN a 0.44. 

Mark Cornetta, president and general manager of KUSA-KTVD, said strong competition keeps 9News staffers hustling. “It’s a pretty high bar in Denver for producing local news,” he said. “It keeps everyone on their toes. We’re not one to sit back and rest on our legacy and assume we’ll be the top station moving forward. We always try to come at it like, we have to work harder because we have such good competitors.”

Cornetta also oversees Tegna stations in Little Rock, Portland and Sacramento. 

In February, KUSA launched 9News En Español, hiring a bilingual digital producer and meteorologist for Spanish-language news on KUSA’s streaming platform. “The growing number of Latino and Latina viewers is not something to ignore,” Cornetta said. 

On the Spanish-language side, KDEN has launched a daily midday newscast, accessible on the station’s digital platforms as well as on Apple TV and Roku. “We are meeting consumers on their preferred platforms and can accompany them anywhere they go, at any time of day,” said Tatiana Arguello, president and general manager of Telemundo Denver. 

KMGH acquired independent KCDO for around $9 million last year, then launched morning, 1 p.m. and 8 p.m. daily newscasts on the indie. The station is branded Local 3. “It has kept us busy, but it’s been a great addition to our portfolio,” Dean Littleton, KMGH-KCDO VP and general manager, said. 

KCDO represents yet another news player in Denver. “When you include our independent and the Spanish-language stations, nine stations are doing news,” said Littleton. “That’s quite a bit of competition, which is good for viewers.”

With additional hiring on the KCDO side, Scripps is looking for a new Denver headquarters for the two stations. 

DeHaven retired July 30. With previous stints at CBS properties in Boston and Chicago, he described Denver as “the best TV community I ever worked in.”

KCNC launched CBSN Denver in February 2020, right before the pandemic became major news. The streaming platform features anchored programming, coverage of live breaking news and a library of local news content that is available on demand. “Sadly, it couldn’t have happened at a better time,” said DeHaven. “People were craving the information and we were able to offer it in that way.”

KDVR added a 10:30 p.m. nightly news, now going 9 to 11 p.m. with local product. KWGN has a 4:30 to 9 a.m. newscast, another at 4 p.m. and an hour at 7 p.m. “There’s just a good appetite in this market for local news,” said Grandy. 

Denver moved from DMA No. 17 to 16 in the past year. Littleton worked in sales at KUSA in 2008 and 2009 before coming on board as KMGH general manager early in 2017. Upon his return, he was struck by the growth in Denver. These days, he notes cranes tickling the sky in every direction. “It’s amazing how much the city has grown in a short period of time,” he said. 

The stations are eager to connect with the new arrivals. KCDO debuted talk show The Kathie J Show Aug. 2. Littleton described the program, hosted by a local radio personality, as “an energetic sort of show focused on local issues,” with “positive, inspiring stories.”

DeHaven said more news may be coming to KCNC in the fall, with a focus on weekends. 

KDVR connects with users on the move through streaming platform Fox31 Now. 

KDEN redesigned its app recently for iPhone and Android users, offering real-time weather alerts in Spanish. KDEN launched its news out of KUSA’s facility years ago, but has since moved out. The stations still share what Cornetta called “an editorial relationship.”

KUSA has a new content initiative called Voices of Change, which seeks out the stories of the underserved members of the community. “We decided to invite voices from the community in,” said Cornetta. “That’s what Voices of Change is all about.”

Denver’s many new arrivals are drawn to the market’s physical beauty, which includes easy access to the Rockies, and a wide range of cultural offerings, including live music and a dynamic restaurant scene. “It’s really outdoorsy and there’s lots of stuff to do,” Littleton said. “The city has a lot going for it. I can see why so many people move here.”

Cornetta described Denver as “a big city with a small-town feel” — a cosmopolitan vibe, but a place where residents are eager to help their neighbor. He added, “It’s a city where people are involved and engaged.” 

Walt DeHaven, VP and general manager of KCNC Denver, marks his last day on the job July 30. He has spent 20 years atop the CBS-owned station, and 14 more with other stations in the CBS group, including ones in Chicago and Boston. The longest-serving general manager in the CBS Stations group, DeHaven has spent 34 years with the Viacom and CBS groups.

DeHaven said his plan is to “leave things in as good a shape as I can, then get out of the way.” 

No successor has been named yet.

Wendy McMahon, president and co-head, CBS News and Stations, saluted DeHaven in a note to KCNC staffers. “Walt’s importance to our organization has been defined not only by his longevity, but also by his leadership, poise and the passion he has for caring about the communities we serve, our clients and all of you,” she said. 

DeHaven will remain active in non-profit organizations in and around Denver. He is president and treasurer of Take Note Colorado, which provides musical instruments and education to schoolchildren, and vice chair at Swallow Hill Music, which provides music education to underserved communities.  

Asked about career highlights, DeHaven responded that the biggest, most memorable stories are often tragedies, and not exactly highlights. He mentioned seeing the KCNC team coalesce amidst wildfires and mass shootings. “The very worst brings out the very best in the people in our organization, in our community,” he said. 

Mark Cornetta, KUSA’s president and general manager, called DeHaven “a great partner,” whether it was educating the market on the digital transition in 2009, or on the four-station helicopter share. “Walt is a great competitor and I’ll be sorry to see him go,” said Cornetta. 

DeHaven said his 20 years at KCNC, and 40 in broadcast, seemed like good numbers to end on. “I loved my time in the business,” he said. “It just seemed right.” 

RELATED:Charter’s New Road Map [subscription required] | Rob Marcus: Tuning Up TWC Before Handing Over the Keys [subscription required] | Goodbye, Time Warner Cable

In the weeks before Charter Communications wrapped up its acquisitions of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, the operator was well down the road of identifying who will lead New Charter across key areas, including technology.

The new structure of the MSO offers some insights into Charter’s technology plans going forward, but still leaves some questions unanswered, including its future plans involving the Reference Design Kit (RDK), the preintegrated software stack that’s been managed by Comcast, TWC and Liberty Global.

Leading New Charter’s technology organization is Jim Blackley, the former Cablevision Systems exec who joined Charter in 2012, reuniting him with former Cablevision chief operating officer and current Charter CEO Tom Rutledge.

SEVEN DEPARTMENTS

Per a memo distributed internally in March and obtained by Multichannel News, Blackley noted that the MSO’s new tech organization would consist of seven departments: Information Technology, Advanced Engineering, Software Architecture, Software Development, Technology Services, Chief Scientist and Wireless Technology.

“My goal over the next 18 months is to consolidate all of the Advanced Engineering, Technology Services, Software Architecture and Software Development in Denver,” Blackley wrote, adding that Denver will also serve as the hub for the MSO’s Product Development organization. Blackley added that Charter’s IT division currently resides in St. Louis and will retain a “significant” presence there as well as in Charlotte, N.C.

At the time, Blackley also identified several executives who will report to him and lead the new technology organization at Charter:

• Jay Carlson was named senior vice president and chief information officer, information technology, heading up the design, development, testing and operation of IT.

• Jay Rolls will serve as senior vice president and chief technology officer, advanced engineering. for Charter.

• Jake Perlman, late of Bright House Networks, is to serve as senior vice president of software development, responsible for agile software development for customer-facing features, systems and products.

• Marti Moore, vice president of technology services at the combined company, is to head up integration planning, cross-functional program management and integrated release management and testing for “large, complex technology programs.”

• Craig Cowden, another former Bright House exec, is staying on in a newly created role of senior vice president, wireless technology. Cowden is on board to oversee Charter’s wireless and WiFi Advanced Engineering Team.

Blackley’s memo also named Rob Martell as New Charter’s senior vice president of software architecture. However, Martell is no longer with Charter, the operator confirmed. Charter has yet to announce who will take that role.

Charter declined to comment beyond the content contained in the information distributed internally a few weeks ago.

Blackley also identified other key roles in the new technology group that were still open, including a senior vice president of advanced engineering — TWC, who will head up network data and voice engineering capabilities and engineering for new network and product technology; and an SVP and chief scientist who will head up research and development for future data, video and voice products and oversee the MSO’s patent review and application process.

LINGERING RDK QUESTIONS

Before the deal closed, Charter had been clear about its plans for video: It intends to extend the strategy underway in its legacy markets to the newly acquired TWC and Bright House systems. The plan there, in part, is to roll out a new cloud-based guide on older, non-IP set-tops as well as new IP-capable “Worldbox” devices that run a downloadable video security platform.

A good portion of that work centers on a cloud-based platform from ActiveVideo, a vendor that is now owned by Arris and Charter via a joint venture formed in mid-2015. That set-up will also help Charter complement its core pay TV service with integrated over-the-top services.

Charter’s plan also centers on the use of two-way, interactive set-tops at every outlet, and the company plans to phase out one-way Digital Transport Adapters (DTAs) that Time Warner Cable deployed to accelerate its all-digital transition.

Charter’s current plan of attack with video opens up the question of whether the MSO will lend its support to the RDK, which creates a unified stack for IP-capable set-tops and gateways and, more recently, for broadband modems and gateways.

RDK Management, the entity that manages the stack, is run by a joint venture of Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Liberty Global. TWC’s position in the venture transferred to Charter via the acquisition.

Charter confirmed last year that it had licensed the RDK and had established two parallel development tracks: one that centers on its current technical approach and another based on the RDK.

Charter did not comment further on its current RDK plans. But multiple industry sources said the MSO is more interested in supporting RDK-B, which focuses on broadband devices, than it will be for the video-focused RDK-V, in part because the operator is wary of having to support too many different varieties of set-top boxes.

But if Charter decides not to pursue an RDK strategy at the set-top level, it could miss out on the scale benefits that such a strategy could provide.

Comcast and Liberty Global, the world’s largest cable operators, are of course firmly on board with RDK, but so is Cox Communications, which has licensed X1 for the next generation of its “Contour” video platform for set-tops and mobile devices. Shaw Communications has also licensed X1, but has limited its early use to a mobile app. Even a telco, CenturyLink Communications, has said it was evaluating RDK for a new video platform that’s under development.

Heading into the recent INTX in Boston, RDK Management announced that more than 15 million devices were running the RDK, and that about 275 multichannel video programming distributors, consumer electronics manufacturers, chipmakers, software developers and systems integrators had licensed the RDK. As a subset of that group, more than 25 cable, satellite and telco service operators around the world have licensed it, though not all have committed to deploying it.

DENVER — Capacity. It’s always a hot ticket at tech-fests, like the 2014 Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers Cable-Tec Expo, staged during a week of Colorado gorgeousness. (The last time Expo graced Denver, it was Blizzard City.)

Here’s a weave of notable trends about capacity, gleaned from four jam-packed days of impressively nerdy tech-talk.
The next brink of capacity expansion maneuvers is at hand, and like the last time, engineers characterize their options as “tools in the toolbox.” Usually there are three.

Last time, they were: Switched digital video; building out to 1 Gigahertz, spectrally; and analog spectrum reclamation to make room for all-digital transmission.

Three is the number this time around, too. The front-runner: DOCSIS 3.1, the next grand slam in broadband capacity expansions, which doubles capacity in the forward, or downstream, and reverse, or upstream, signal directions. According to panelists at the DOCSIS 3.1 Symposium preceding Expo, we’ll start seeing those modems and gateways sometime next year.

Second, and harder to swallow because it involves labor costs, is any of the many flavors of “fiber-deeper.” While it’s never fun to be the guy digging through the petunias to attach a new wire to the house, sometimes it just makes sense: New builds. After a catastrophic event.

It is in this category that you hear talk of “remote PHY,” “RFoG” and “distributed CCAP,” among others.

Option three goes higher again, spectrally — to 1.2 GHz and even 1.7 GHz; the DOCSIS 3.1 spec mentions both. These days, some operators have built to 1 GHz; most sit at either 750 Megahertz or 860 MHz.

Going to 1.2 GHz tastes delicious, at first. Depending on the starting point — which involves how amplifiers are spaced on the wires — a move to 1.2 GHz bumps overall downstream capacity by as much as 60%. (What?!)

Let’s do the math. Say the current spectral top is 750 MHz. If the new goal is 1.2 GHz, which is the same as 1,200 MHz, the difference is 450 MHz. There’s the 60%.

Hang on! Turns out a power predicament accompanies a move to 1.2 GHz, meaning a doubling of the power required to push amplifiers that high. This all came to light at the tail end of an Arris-hosted breakfast on the last day of Expo, when a man in the audience, during the closing Q&A, asked about it.

It’s why we should all be glad for another Big Thing that happened during SCTE Expo: An effort, called Energy 2020, to reduce power consumption “per unit” (per every component in a system, from “cloud to ground”) by 20%, by 2020. It’s an enormously ambitious goal, especially in the face of multiple “power hog” examples, like powering 1.2 GHz plant.

That’s the trajectory of capacity, if the trend lines of the Cable-Tec Expo are true. Which they usually are. 

Stumped by gibberish? Visit Leslie Ellis at translation-please.com or multichannel.com/blog.

It’s been a hectic last few days wherever convention vectors intersect in Denver.  Denver International Airport has been alive with the bustle of inbound MSO and vendor executives. Conversations among old friends have been struck up in lines at hotel registration desks. Admins have been jostling to put together the best dinner meetings at Acorn, Sugarmill and points in between.

SCTE Cable-Tec Expo is back in town.

At the Colorado Convention Center, vendors selling everything from crimping tools to CCAPs [converged cable access platforms] have been putting the finishing touches on their exhibits. Audio-visual systems have been tested one last time. Speakers have been adding that final polish to keynote presentations and workshops.

SCTE Cable-Tec Expo is back in Denver.

When Tony Werner and I are delivering our opening remarks this week, you can bet the significance of holding the cable industry’s premier technology event in the Mile High City won’t escape us.  While Denver may no longer be “The Capital of Cable,” it retains a revered position in the industry’s history.

BACK TO THE ‘CAPITAL’

Denver was the focal point for the cable revolution that freed television viewers from the shackles of handfuls of VHF and UHF channels. Giants of our industry — Bill Daniels, John Malone, Bob Magness and others — used Denver as a base to bring vast menus of sports, entertainment, news and other content to America, and ultimately to the world. And in Denver, a new generation of technologists turned cable pioneers’ dreams of new communications platforms into the realities of broadband and voice services.

The good news is that the same spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation that drove the growth of cable in Denver’s heyday is alive and well today. As SCTE itself celebrates its 45th anniversary, our organization has evolved from a handful of forward-thinking engineers to an increasingly agile organization that is the hub of technology learning, certification and standards for more than 18,000 members. 

With the creation of our Corporate Alliance Program, our relationships with organizations such as CableLabs, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) and Women In Cable Telecommunications (WICT), as well as our increasingly global reach, SCTE is both creating solutions for the worldwide cable market, and demonstrating the business impact of those solutions well beyond the technology community.

MUCH TO SEE

At Cable-Tec Expo this year, the agenda is jammed with keynotes, panels, workshops and exhibits that are pointing the way to a new Golden Age for our industry. We’ll showcase strategies for increasing operational efficiency, reducing costs and boosting customer satisfaction. Among them: cloud-based services; agile software development; IP video delivery; and standards for next-generation equipment and facilities design, to name a few.

When you have a record 48 workshops and more than 96 educational sessions, as well as multiple keynotes and opening general sessions and countless other events, there’s no way for a preview to do justice to all of them in several hundred words.  We’ll do our best here to shine a spotlight on the highlights that will make SCTE Cable-Tec Expo 2014 a memorable show.  Here are a few:

• We’ve brought together two global thought leaders — Rob Lloyd, president, sales and development for Cisco Systems, and Mike Fries, president and CEO of Liberty Global — for a twin helping of keynote remarks.  Rob will talk on Tuesday (Sept. 23) about the evolution of the customer experience and the role of the cloud in the emerging model. On Wednesday (Sept. 24), Tony will engage Mike, to give attendees a global view of the opportunities that are ahead for the industry.

• Tony will follow Rob Lloyd’s lead during Tuesday’s opening general session when he moderates a panel entitled, “Cable’s Cloud Forecast: More Apps and Infrastructure.”  Among the panelists who will provide glimpses into a cloud-based future: Dan Hennessy, chief architect of Liberty Global, and Mark Muehl, senior vice president, product engineering for Comcast.

• Two of our most important activities, Standards and Energy Management, often go hand in hand. If you’re designing, building, buying or deploying new equipment, you can’t afford to miss the “Energy 2020” session at 1 p.m. on Wednesday. John Schanz, executive vice president and chief network officer of Comcast, will keynote the session, which will provide the vendor and operator communities with further visibility into how the “Energy 2020” campaign is shaping standards and requirements for new equipment, training and other resources.   Also on tap:  presentations on Energy Efficiency; Energy Integration into Operations; Drive Density and Performance; and Performance and Reliability Tiering.

• Our workshops will address the technology innovations that are essential to the future of our industry: Next-Generation Customer Experiences (Improving Operations, Defining/Redefining the Connected Home, and the role of the “Silicon Technician”); Next-Generation Video (All-IP Video, Ultra HD/HEVC/HDR, Video Portability, Next-Gen User Interfaces); and Next-Generation Networks (Architectures and Virtualized-, Cloud- and Software-Defined Networks for Gigabit Services and Beyond). 

• When you’re not listening to our speakers, the best place to learn about where the industry is headed is the show floor. The Cloud, HEVC, IP Video, CCAP, DOCSIS 3.1 — our vendors are the innovators who are turning those technologies and others into products that are ready for deployment by the cable operator community.

• And, of course, there will be the International Cable Games, the IP Challenge and the other events and networking opportunities that make Cable-Tec Expo a magnet for cable engineering and operations professionals in the U.S. and, increasingly, worldwide.

SOARING IN THE ROCKIES

Denver will be alive with cable activity this week and make no mistake about it:  the city is still an important part of our industry’s landscape. Denver is many things — the headquarters city for the hub of international cable, Liberty Global; the location of The Cable Center; the jumping-off point for CableLabs; and the home to so many other companies and individuals who have contributed to our industry’s growth.

As one who spent many years here with my family, I hope you enjoy every minute of your time in the city. But most of all I hope that you make the most of everything we have to offer at SCTE Cable-Tec Expo 2014.

Mark Dzuban is president and CEO of the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers.

Despite the threat of continued industry consolidation of distributors and suppliers, the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) expects attendance at this year’s Cable-Tec Expo in Denver to match up with last year’s event in Atlanta. Yes, flat is indeed the new growth.

“Historically, Denver has had strong on-site registrations,” SCTE president and CEO Mark Dzuban said. “We expect to be where we were last year. But some of that is factored into the on-site registrations we’re expecting.”

For those keeping score, last year’s Expo in Atlanta drew about 9,800, a 6% increase from the 2012 event in steamy Orlando, Fla.

Dzuban said the number of new, first-time exhibitors is up 64% for the Denver event, while total exhibitors are up roughly 16%. SCTE, he said, is also seeing a surge in international attendance, which was up 10% heading into the show.

That growth comes against the backdrop of SCTE’s deeper global focus. Earlier this month, for example, the SCTE launched the International Society of Broadband Experts (ISBE), a brand and training division that will supply training and certification resources around the world. It’s also there to “eliminate existing brand confusion” with the Society for Broadband Professionals, a U.K.-based founded in 1945 that also goes by “SCTE.”

While this year’s show will shine the spotlight on specific categories such as DOCSIS 3.1, 4K/Ultra HD, the Reference Design Kit (RDK), energy management, WiFi, a big overarching theme will be customer service, Dzuban said.

“If we look at last year’s Expo being about IP networking and going to all-IP networks and what that technical evolution looks like, this year if really about how do we use science and technology to improve the customer experience in a market that is very competitive, but so are we,” he said, noting that the event will play host to 48 workshops.

And expect a look into the cloud that doesn’t just skim along the surface of what’s evolved into a catch-all buzzword. “We’re not talking about Wikipedia: What is the cloud? This is about how to apply dos and don’ts and best practices,” Dzuban said.

SCTE, like other cable-focused organizations, has been tasked with developing growth strategies amid a consolidating market, which, again, is one of the reasons why it’s been expanding its reach and focus.

“If you look at our mission, the mission doesn’t change” in the face of a consolidating industry, Dzuban said. “It’s expanding our footprint and our relationship with existing MSOs to include – just as CableLabs is absorbing Europe CableLabs and the NCTA [National Cable & Telecommunications Association] having a larger international contingent – the global community.”

But don’t expect Cable Tec-Expo to set up its tent overseas, at least not yet.  SCTE has already locked in New Orleans for the site of its 2015 cable tech-fest, set for Oct. 13-16.