Cable-Tec Expo: Cox's Esser: Cable Has to Compress Innovation Cycles

Atlanta -- Cox Communications president Pat Esser said the cable industry needs to cut down its product-revision cycles from years to months, to have the agility to meet changing expectations of the next generation of consumers.

Esser, who delivered opening remarks here Tuesday at SCTE's Cable-Tec Expo, said cable's innovation cycles historically have followed a five to seven year span. But in the consumer-electronics world, product cycles are measured in months -- if not weeks.

As an example of moving more quickly, Esser cited Cox's plan to launch an iPad app to stream live TV channels in the home in about a month. The MSO was able to develop the Cox TV Connect service in "about nine months from the day we said 'go' to when consumers are going to see it," Esser said. In the past, "that could have taken our industry three years to get out the door."

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