The U.S. cable market has for years been dealing with sweeping changes in consumer behavior and preferences. Now a major industry association is also changing to better meet that evolution.
The Rocky Mountain Cable Association (RMCA) is rebranding and reimagining its charter as the Media+Tech Collective (MTC). The new collective will have no restrictions on members or businesses who want to join as a member or sponsor. It will focus on providing industry programs and annual events in the Denver area for sectors of the media and technology industry including video, broadband, telephony, commercial services and more.
The RMCA was born out of the Rocky Mountain chapter of the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM) in January 2012. MTC President Charlotte Bockstahler said the Rocky Mountain CTAM chapter was one of the most active among the regional chapters and when the CTAM decided to shift its focus to mostly national programming, the Rocky Mountain CTAM chapter still kept its regional activities going as the RMCA.
So, why, after a long run as a strong cable industry association and after years of streaming video and growing broadband demand altering the cable market, did the RMCA just now decide to change course? They didn’t.
Bockstahler said the rebranding conversation started about five years ago and then became a formalized action plan about two years ago. She said that because everyone working for the MTC is a volunteer it takes extra time to coordinate with everyone, who are all still working full-time jobs in the industry. She also said the pandemic threw everyone off quite a bit.
Now, though, the MTC is up and running and expanding its mandate beyond cable TV.
“There’s a lot more to it than just cable. There are all these other related products that are so integrated with service providers. Some of the folks that used to be competitors are now working together. So, having an organization that was just focused on cable video products was a little bit restrictive,” said Bockstahler. She said that rebranding opens the MTC to adjacent industries like streaming, satellite, telecom and digital advertising.
Early initiatives for the new MTC include programming focused on accessibility for consumers and within corporations along with a partnership with Horowitz Research to uncover insights into Gen Z. The MTC also hopes to hold more virtual events like the Innovation Challenge, which recruits college students to build and develop next-generation solutions for media- and technology-related fields.
The Innovation Challenge also got a rebrand from its old name, the Cable Apprentice. Bockstahler said that over the past few years, many of the students participating in the challenge have never even had cable television. She said the challenge has in part become helping these students understand how the industry has evolved and got to the point where it's at, and then having them try to solve the challenges.
“Often these companies are trying to sell to that generation, so their perspective can be really valuable,” said Bockstahler.
Along with the Innovation Challenge, which is the MTC flagship event, Bockstahler said the collective is hoping to provide more virtual events with more attendee interaction – something that’s been sorely missed during the pandemic – while keeping the discussion topics on the cutting edge.
“We want to make sure we’re bringing our members the things that are most important that are going to continue to help them in their careers,” she said.