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2006-06-12006.6.701:57PM페이지30001채널맥(3443-0701)
Exhibition & Conference / KCTA 2006
On the occasion of the 4th KCTA
Exhibition & Conference to be held
on June 12-14 in Jeju, the Korea IT
Times held an interview with Oh Ji-chul,
chairman of the Korean Cable TV
Association (KCTA), to hear his views on
current issues surrounding the cable industry.
The following are excerpts from the
interview....Ed.
Q: Would you please explain to our
readers what KCTA 2006 is all about?
The KCTA Exhibition & Conference is
the nation’s one and only exhibition where
one can get a glimpse of the latest
technologies and equipment as well as find
out more about issues related to cable TV
broadcasting. In its fourth year this year,
the exhibition will be held from June 12th
to 14th at the International Convention
Center in Jeju.
When the event was first held, it was
meaningful in the sense that it had
provided a forum for exchanging ideas and
information and a stage for festival among
employees in the cable TV business. But,
as the cable industry grew in scope along
with the rise in policy issues and
convergence with related industries,
exhibition items have become more
diversified and conference themes
specialized.
On the occasion of the cable TV’s 10th
anniversary and the launching of digital
service last year, KCTA Exhibition &
Conference, too, has been furnished with a
rich setup of exhibition items and
panelists. Whereas some 2,500
participants from over 1,000 companies
took part in last year’s event, it is
forecasted that the number of participants
Creating Your Tomorrow...
KCTA 2006 to show how Cable TV can make the future world more convenient
at this year’s exhibition
will surpass 3,000 with
the composition of
participants becoming
ever more diversified to
include buyers,
investors, PP channels
and new equipment
manufacturers in new
media businesses.
This year’s event,
which will be held
under the theme of
‘Create Your
Tomorrow’, will show
how the interactive
cable TV can change the
future world more convenient
and operational.
Above all, and as Korea is Asia’s fastest
growing convergence market, the wide
range of services to be demonstrated at the
event, as well as technological issues and
business models to be discussed, are anticipated
to captivate the eyes and ears of
opinion leaders from Asia.
What are the major issues and topics
to be discussed and demonstrated
at KCTA 2006?
This year, a wide variety of topics are
expected to be discussed at the conference.
These include ‘strategies on digital
contents’ in the era of multi platforms and
next generation technologies such as
‘technologies on HD set-top boxes’ for
high-definition broadcasting and ‘DOCSIS
(Data Over Cable Service Inferface
Specifications) 3.0’ for boosting the speed
of data transmissions.
First of all, D-CAS set-top boxes that
Oh Ji-chul, chairman of the Korean
Cable TV Association
have generated much
controversy during the
‘NCTA 2006 National
Show’ held in April in
the United States are
expected to attract much
attention. With such a
background, and under
the current environment
where service operators
are burdened with the
compulsory fitting of
cable cards to authenticate
subscribers, it is
likely to see the rise of
the contention that D-
CAS, a downloadable
mode that connects settop
boxes to the cable
network, will contribute to reviving digital
broadcasting as it can lower the price of
set-top boxes and the defect ratio.
Also not to be brushed aside is the issue
concerning DOCSIS 3. As most service
operators in Korea have been using
DOCSIS 2 as the standard for cable
modems, the cable transmissions based on
DOCSIS 2 have been limited in terms of
speed and bandwidth. However, as the
speed of cable transmissions will be
enhanced by four-fold when DOCSIS 3
goes into commercial service, it will be
possible for the recently developed
DOCSIS 3 to compete and be in par with
the FTTH network adopted by telecom
operators as part of the government’s BcN
trial project. In this respect, studies will be
conducted with regard to the timing of
adoption, operators’ road maps and
manufacturers’ status.
Contents development, too, is no less
important than that of infrastructure. In
addition to technological issues, content as
a blue-ocean business is expected to be
discussed at this year’s conference along
with the advent of a full-fledged digital
age.
As two-way data broadcasting is
scheduled to be launched in the
cable industry, too, timed with the
forthcoming World Cup soccer games, discussions
on high-definition contents and a
variety of data broadcasting, as well as
marketing strategies, will be held at KCTA
2006. Moreover, ways to revive pay-perprogram
broadcasting systems such as
VOD (video on demand), PPV (pay-perview)
and PVR (personal video recorder)
that are emerging as new profit models will
be disclosed along with success stories
overseas. As CJ Media has successfully
tested in April a live PPV broadcast for the
first time in Korea, alternate methods to
back up the two-way broadcasting are
anticipated to emerge. In addition to this,
other issues, too, will be discussed thoroughly.
These include profit models for
cable VoIP ahead of its commercial service
later this year, ways to activate marketing
for attracting subscribers to digital
broadcasting, PVR-linked digital
advertising and ISP-related issues
deriving from service operator
replacements.
Who are the major
exhibitors? And, who is the
discussion panel comprised of?
Along with the rise in the
number of overseas participants to
this year’s exhibition, KCTA
2006 has grown to become a truly
international event for new media
broadcasting.
The major exhibitors of cable
equipment to the exhibition,
which is comprised of 175 booths
from 80 companies, are, among
others, Scientific Atlanta and
Samsung Electronics for displaying D-
CAS set-top boxes and Arris and Motorola
for displaying DOCSIS 3 solutions. In
addition, LG Electronics, Cisco Systems
and Mirae Online will also take part.
Panelists participating in the conference,
meanwhile, include
Gregory Armstrong,
COO of J-Com, the
largest cable TV
operator in Japan, Ross
Crowley of STAR Group, Steven
McAllister, vice president of Walt
Disney, Tom Cloonan of Arris, Paul
Chen of Eastern Multimedia, Paul
Berriman of PCCW from Hong
Kong, Vivek Couto of MPA, an
Asian media research company, and
Marcel Frenez, chairman of
CASBBA. KCTA 2006 has become
a large conference with the number
of keynote speakers and discussion
panelists participating in sectional sessions
during a three-day period amounting to 81.
How is KCTA 2006 different from
last year’s event?
Since digital broadcasting was just
launched at this time of last year, services
and solutions had been in the midst of
upgrading through trials and errors. So,
there were constraints to further
discussions and no practical service in
operation. In this year’s conference,
however, the stage will be set for
discussing business models that can be
contemplated from on-the-field services.
In this regard, I plan to make the best use
of the event as a momentum for
disseminating the somewhat lackluster
digital cable service rather
than highlighting a
controversy surrounding new
technological issues.
Accordingly, the question on
how to improve user-based
services will be taken up as
the key points of discussions
at digital marketing related
sessions.
With regard to the TPS
related sessions, too,
discussions will be made on
how to provide premium
services, like video
telephoning, and rational price
arrangements through cooperative system
between service operators and subscriberoriented
marketing models.
In addition, specialized sessions are
also scheduled to be held for studying the
role of local media for strengthening the
community bondage in the era of local
autonomy and enhancing consumer
welfare through joint seminars with the
Korean Association of Broadcasting and
Telecommunications Studies under the
theme of ‘the role of cable TV in the
ubiquitous age’.
How do you plan to foster
the exhibition?
KCTA has grown to become a
key tool for promoting Korea’s
cable TV industry. Through this
event, I hope people in the cable
business can have the feeling of
ownership and take pride.
Moreover, I hope KCTA will
turn out to be an indispensable
forum for exchanging ideas and
where technicians in the cable
TV business can get the grasp of
the marketing trends while
people in the business of
planning can have a bird’s-eye
view on technological issues. I
hope that people in the cable
business who have limited knowledge in
specialized areas, and who account for
more than a half of Korea’s broadcasting
industry, can take the opportunity to share
their knowledge.
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KOREA IT TIMES June 2006 _ 3 1