The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers said it drew 8,800 attendees for its annual Cable-Tec Expo in Denver last week.
The tally fell short of the more than 10,000 who attended the show last year in Philadelphia, the hometown of the biggest U.S. cable operator, Comcast. The last time Cable-Tec Expo was held in Denver, 2014, the show drew 9,100 attendees. This was before Time Warner Cable, Cablevision and Suddenlink were bought out by the operators.
The fact that Cable-Tec could come close to its 2014 metrics despite industry consolidation is notable. But it should also be pointed out that SCTE is no longer competing with the NCTA’s now-defunct “Cable Show” for company trade show budgets.
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SCTE and its sibling organization, the International Society of Broadband Experts, said that 22% of its attendees came from outside the U.S. and 19% were first-time attendees.
“While all of the metrics around SCTE•ISBE’s Cable-Tec Expo 2017 were strong, what’s most important is how we’ve continued to improve the quality of the program offered to attendees,” said Mark Dzuban, president and CEO of SCTE•ISBE.
The 2018 Cable-Tec Expo will be held at Atlanta’s Georgia World Congress Center Oct. 22-25. Kevin Hart, executive VP and chief product and technology officer for Cox Communications, will serve as program committee chair.