Let’s face it, there are consumers out there that will never, ever take a pay TV service from an incumbent cable operator.

Even the loudest, screaming call to action or best deal won’t get them to budge, because the hate level is simply too great to overcome. Or maybe the local pay TV operator’s brand has simply exhausted itself, and consumers have become blind and deaf to their marketing overtures.

But what if there’s a new pay TV provider in town — a new brand even — that strives to shake off cable’s longstanding stigmas by giving the customer the white-glove treatment, along with a fresh, new service that delivers a full-freight lineup of live TV and a massive VOD library that comes by way of fancy, colorful boxes outfitted with an intuitive, sharp-looking guide that even integrate Netflix and other popular OTT services and apps?

And so what if it’s all riding the incumbent internet-service provider’s broadband pipes? That’s just data. Everything else is new, new, new — down to the electric Teslas and BMWs that the field technicians and service installers use to roll around town.

It’s looking more and more likely that such a scenario could be playing into the strategy of Layer3 TV, the Denver-based IPTV service provider that bills itself as “The New Cable.”

Though Layer3 TV is leaning on a direct-to-consumer play in most of its launched markets, it’s becoming increasingly likely the company will also lean on deals with incumbent MSOs and telcos that could use its TV service as a “flanker brand” that enables them to gain video homes while also adding or retaining valuable, higher-margin broadband subscribers.

Layer3 TV and Suddenlink Communications (now part of Altice USA, which inherited Suddenlink’s investment in Layer3 TV) tested the idea starting in late 2015 in a couple of Texas markets, using the “Umio TV” brand.

Though that trial has since ended, a similar idea appears to be underway in Washington, D.C., where Layer3 TV is using the fiber network of incumbent telco Verizon Communications to market a broadband bundle as well as a standalone broadband service.

Neither side is commenting on the relationship, but people familiar with the linkage said the broadband component of Layer3 TV’s offer in the market (branded by Layer3 TV as “pure-Fiber”) does indeed run on the Verizon’s network. And while Verizon would perform the connection to the exterior of the customer’s house, Layer3 TV would handle everything else, from service activation to billing to customer care.

Financial terms of the agreement aren’t yet known, but it gives Layer3 TV the important ability to sell a broadband service without owning the access network. Verizon, meanwhile, is providing consumers in that market a pay TV option that is not Fios TV. Even if Verizon cedes a pay TV subscriber to Layer3 TV, Verizon still gets a broadband sub out of the deal, and prevents that customer from falling into the hands of Comcast or RCN.

Among other examples, Layer3 TV also has a service/bundling partnership with NextLight, a municipal fiber broadband provider in Longmont, Colo.

Small innovations drive our economy.  Large-scale inventions – consider the car, for instance – create periodic seismic economic shifts, but it’s the subsequent and persistent flywheel of innovation orbiting these inventions that really builds industries and propels meaningful growth. 

Let’s consider the emergence of the car: Henry Ford’s Model T revolutionized American life and helped enable the suburban life enjoyed by roughly 40% of our population. However, it is the more than 100 years of subsequent innovation that serves as the growth catalyst between Ford’s first Model T and the ~$9 trillion worldwide auto sales industry that we have today: innovations like the seat belt and the airbag, which combined reduced road fatalities by 70%; like power steering and brakes, which made cars easier and more fun to drive for the masses; like varied style and design, which propel dozens of luxury brands. 

Taken together, these smaller innovations on the basic automotive platform represent the building blocks of a micro-economy. And the innovations simply continue as the next-generation lithium-ion cell batteries, so artfully leveraged by Tesla, stimulate growth in the auto industry, boosting electric car sales 6X over the past five years.

Cable is no different: It all started with the introduction of the television. Ever since the sale of the first commercial TV set in 1928, constant innovation has fueled and shaped our industry. 

From the dizzying array of constantly improving features of the TV (like the ultra-thin, 4k-capable displays that drive more than $100 billion in annual worldwide TV sales) to the features that connect to the TV (like the DVR, which sparked the timeshifted viewing that now comprises 16 hours per month for the average U.S. adult), from the stunning, immersive UIs (like the one delivered by our Contour service, which provides millions of U.S. homes with intuitive and intelligent access to an ever growing pool of content and options) to the content ecosystem that flows through the TV and shapes our culture, innovation on the TV has driven nearly every facet of the ~$150 billion video distribution industry that we operate in today. 

The introduction of the television was a seismic invention, but the cumulative subsequent innovation flywheel has produced far more economic value for both new and old video ecosystem participants.

There is little doubt that this flywheel will continue to spin, and the annual INTX show is the venue where we all get to peek around the corner at the next innovation wave. This year’s INTX show will be flush with previews of next-generation innovations that introduce new and valuable functionality to our products. 

This is precisely why I’ll be there – to collaborate with TV and media innovators, and to experience first-hand the products and services that will shape our collective future and drive cable’s next wave of growth. The beauty of INTX is in its ability to unite the full spectrum of people, ideas, technologies and strategies from across the media and communications landscape to drive new and evolving conversations. It’s the best way to get a view into what’s driving that flywheel. I hope you will join me there. 

After all, small is the new big. 

Steve Necessary is executive VP of product development and management for Cox Communications.