VP Noli De Castro Leads
2009 PCTA Convention Opening
The 17th PCTA Convention, organized by the Philippine Cable TV Association (PCTA), will open on Wednesday, March 11, with Vice President Noli De Castro leading a roster of government dignitaries and executives who are at the helm of agencies and companies allied to the industry.
Vice President De Castro is the Keynote Speaker of the annual event that will also be graced by Senator Alan Peter Cayetano and National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) Commissioner Ruel Canobas. Plenary session speakers include NTC Deputy Commissioners Jorge Sarmiento and Jaime Fortes Jr., IP Philippines Director General Adrian Cristobal, TV5Monde Managing Director Alexandre Muller, Verimatrix VP for Marketing Steve Christian, CISCO Systems Business Manager Yongsub Lee, SES New Skies Vice President Elias Zaccack, Irdeto General Manager and VP for Sales Jerry Park, Asian Cable Communications President Leo San Miguel, Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia Deputy Chief Executive Officer John Medeiros, Discovery Channel Senior Vice President and General Manager Kevin Dickie, HBO Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Spinks, SES New Skies Marketing Director Matthew Oh, Harmonic Regional Sales Director Chris Giacomelli, Cable Boss Assistant Vice President for Network Distribution Baby Zarate, and Solar Vice President for Sales and Marketing-Sports Jude Turquato.
The opening ceremony will start with a luncheon at 12 o'clock in the afternoon. Prior to that, a General Membership Assembly and the election of new board members of the association will take place.
This year's convention will have simultaneous plenary and technical sessions that cater to the preference of the delegates. The plenary session topics will take up cable TV's transition from analog to digital, the impact of digital terrestrial TV on cable and broadcast, working with new technologies such as IPTV and DTH, regulatory matters, authorized programming and future trends in content, emerging business opportunities such as internet via satellite and digital head-end in the sky, and cable advertising.
The technical session will tackle headend and outside plant preparation for digital migration, conditional access, set top box management, and value added services. Industry experts such as Sky Cable Vice President for Research and Development Mike Martir, CISCO Systems International Systems Engineer for Video and Cable Solutions Group Rick Baron, Sky Cable Preventive Maintenance Supervisor Ruben Anasarias, PCT Technical Sales Manager Homer Bertol, Ricklee Enterprises Engineering Head Eduard Cheng, and Cable Access Technologies Systems Engineering Head Norbert Tan.
At sundown, delegates will party at the Fellowship Night to be held also within the convention venue with Solar Entertainment as dinner sponsor and Irdeto as bar host. The highlight of the night is the coronation of the first-ever Miss PCTA who will act as the association's ambassadress in its various projects.
On the third day, Sky Cable Chief Operating Officer Carlo Katigbak and Asian Vision Cable Holdings Chief Executive Officer Francisco Magsaysay will discuss the different challenges faced by cable operators in conducting their business as well as the different value added services that would improve their income. The PCTA Loyalty Awards will follow right after to give recognition to the long-time member companies of the association. Concurrent to that is the holding of the Cablelympics, a technical quiz show open to all cable installers and technicians wherein the winner will be awarded a medal and cash prizes.
The PCTA Convention will be held from March 11-13 at the modern SMX Convention Center at the Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay City.
