The New England Connectivity and Telecommunications Association is the new name for NECTA, the five-state regional trade association for companies in the cable-TV business. This weekend (October 23-25) NECTA brings back its annual conference hosting cable companies, regulators and legislative officials in Newport, Rhode Island. 

The plan is to make the gathering a summertime affair again in 2023, association president Tim Wilkerson said. The last in-person conference in Newport was held in 2018, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We think that making that change, even though it’s one word, it's a lot more than than that,” Wilkerson said of the rebrand. “We think that word, connectivity, really symbolizes and encapsulates what the future is. These world-class broadband networks that exist today, but are going to be powering those 10G networks in the near future, are really going to be driving our innovation economy and those connected emerging technologies like robotics, telemedicine, fintech, ed tech, sports wagering and then world-class entertainment like NESN and NBC Sports and NBCUniversal that they rely on.”

Cable-centric associations such as NCTA–The Internet & Television Association and more recently NCTC for years have been looking to make their names say more than just cable while retaining the same basic letters. NECTA worked with an agency, Seven Letter, on the new name, a new logo and a new website that for the first time spells out a mission statement for the group, Wilkerson said. A new tagline reads, “Connecting New England.”

Topics important to NECTA include how the $14.2 billion in broadband subsidies under the national Affordable Connectivity Program are handed out, and whether or not the states will adopt parallel programs that help subsidize the cost of a residential broadband subscription, Wilkerson said. The biggest cable companies in NECTA's territory of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont are Comcast, Charter Communications, Cox Communications and Breezeline, Wilkerson said.

“NECTA has always played an important role in shaping public policy, analyzing trends in technology and implementing best practices for these industries,” Mark Reilly, senior VP of government affairs for Comcast, said in a NECTA statement about the rebranding. “With the constantly changing landscape and new technologies emerging on a rapid scale, NECTA’s role will be even more important to help policymakers grapple with advancements of technology and how it can help expand economic growth and improve the lives of all New Englanders. Their refreshed brand and focus reflect where these industries are going, and I am excited to see what comes next.”

NECTA formed in 1961 as the Community Television Association of New England, headquartered in Tilton, New Hampshire. In 1982, the association rebranded and became the New England Cable Television Association. In 2004, NECTA updated the name to New England Cable & Telecommunications Association.

The first, small NECTA conference in Newport was held in 1972 and grew to be a popular destination, peaking in size around the year 2000, the former NECTA CEO Paul Cianelli recalled in a 2012 interview. “We’d literally get every room in Newport and beyond,” he said then. Wilkerson said the decision was made over this past summer to restart the in-person convention, but by then it was difficult to find open dates, hence the October scheduling. This weekend’s conference will be held at the Newport Harbor Island and Resort. ■

The New England Cable & Telecommunications Association convention in Newport, R.I., this week (July 13-15) “is looking great in its 45th year,” longtime NECTA CEO Paul Cianelli told The Wire.

“We’ve come a long way from, ‘One of the main questions is, can we support 12 channels of programming?’ to where we are today, focusing on innovation, integration, motivation, which is the theme of our show this year.”

He said the outlook was for 521 attendees: 362 registrants, 103 spouses and 56 children among them. Sixty-six companies are registered. “It’s important that this New England show has developed into a family show” since around the mid-1970s, Cianelli said. He’s in his 41st year with the association, which represents cable interests on policy matters in the six states.

Get complete coverage of the NECTA convention.

Various traditions will be observed: CNBC’s Ron Insana, as he has for about the past two decades, leads an opening panel session that includes regular attendee Comcast  senior executive vice president David Cohen, along with Atlantic Broadband CEO Richard Shea and Stanley M. Besen of Charles River Associates. Comcast-owned NBCUniversal is the convention’s biggest sponsor, another key to its longevity. Disney & ESPN Media Networks is No. 2 and MAV TV is No. 3, followed by some 20 other entities, mostly programmers.

The opening night party will be hosted by NESN as it has since 1989 and since 1990 at the same location, the Gas Lamp Grille (or whatever else it’s been called over the years). NESN is also bringing Red Sox announcers Dave O’Brien and Jerry Remy to the network’s booth on Thursday, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

At its peak, in the early 2000s, Cianelli has said previously, the NECTA show drew upward of 1,200 people. It was one of several strong regional cable conventions, which have dwindled with industry consolidation.

“We are the last of the Mohegans, so to speak, the last significant convention that’s not the national INTX show,” Cianelli said. “And I think that has to do with a number of things. One is the model that we use, the substance that’s there for all members. And New England being New England, which is a pretty tight, unique area, we’re able to bring in many of the legislators, policymakers to participate and to learn, and we in turn learn from them. Many of our significant panels are taped and then subsequently put on New England Cable News.

“Obviously, every year we take a hard look at [the show], but it’s been such a significant tool both for the operators and for the policymakers that I think we have a bright future.”