LR's Cable Next-Gen event is going virtual

With COVID-19 still rampaging through the US, Light Reading plans to convert this year's Cable Next-Gen Technologies & Strategies conference into a free, virtual event later this summer.

Cable Next-Gen, originally slated to take place in Denver in mid-March and then pushed back to late August because of the COVID-19 pandemic, is going the digital route because of the same public health concerns. With Colorado and most other states still imposing tight limits on group gatherings, no other course is possible. We hope that it will be safe enough to return to a live, in-person format in spring 2021.

But the novel coronavirus won't keep us from going ahead with the popular cable tech confab for the 13th straight year. The virtual version of Cable Next-Gen, taking place on August 26 and 27, will feature the same keynotes, fireside chats, market research presentations and panel discussions that were initially planned in Denver. Only now the event will occur online over the two days, making it free and accessible to all participants.

Like our live, in-person events, the digital edition of Cable Next-Gen will also offer exhibition space and networking opportunities, just in a virtual way. Further, the event will still feature a happy hour for attendees, but you'll have to bring your own drink.

The other good news is that most, if not all, of our prime speakers from the in-person lineup will likely participate in the virtual event. So far, that all-star roster includes such luminaries as: Balan Nair, President & CEO of Liberty Latin America; Guy McCormick, SVP of Engineering at Cox Communications; Shane Portfolio, SVP of Engineering at Comcast; Bill Warga, VP of Strategy & Technology at Liberty GlobalCableLabs; Dave Wright, President of CBRS Alliance; Claudio Righetti, Chief Scientist at Telecom Argentina; Robin Lavoie, Senior Director, Network Evolution Strategies at Cogeco; Jeff Finkelstein, Executive Director of Advanced Technologies at Cox Communications; and Doug Jones, Principal Architect at CableLabs. Other returnees should be confirmed shortly.

Plus, several senior cable tech execs and research analysts who couldn't make the original schedule will participate as well. That list includes Matt Tooley, VP of Broadband Technology at NCTA – The Internet & Television Association; and Jeff Heynen, Senior Research Director, Broadband Access and Home Networking, at Dell'Oro Group; as well as Warga and Portfolio. More speakers will be confirmed soon.

For those who had already registered for the in-person conference, we will automatically transfer your registration to the virtual event. For those who had already paid registration fees for the in-person version, refunds should be forthcoming.

So join us online at summer's end for our 13th annual cable tech gathering. Please click here to register for Cable Next-Gen Technologies & Strategies.

See you then.

— Alan Breznick, Cable/Video Practice Leader, Light Reading