The ANGA Meeting, 2005.

ANGA, 2005

ANGA The German Association of Private CATV-Operators The ANGA Cable Show, now 7 years old, continues to grow in size and influence. Held at the Cologne Messe at the end of May, this years show had 299 exhibitors (up from 216 last year) from 31 countries and occupied a larger hall with an area of over 7600sq. meters. The number of visitors increased by 30 percent since last year reaching nearly 8,000, with 1,000 of them registering for the Cable Convention Conference that ran concurrently with the exhibition. The larger hall, with catering facilities included, lent itself to a relaxed feeling without overcrowding, although the aisles were certainly busy and most stands reported satisfaction with the number of visitors. "ANGA Cable has become even more international and more professional", explained Herbert Strobel, Chairman, Cable & Satellite Trade Association ("Fachverband Kabel & Satellit") within the German Association of the Electrical Engineering and Electronic Industry (ZVEI).		The Cologne Exhibition Centre

The Teleste Stand	The Exhibition The exhibition is more akin to the London Cable & Satellite show in the early nineties (when cable content was significant) than the CCA show since it has a large number of satellite and smatv/matv suppiers as well as cable; nevertheless, it has become the de-facto 'cable show' for Europe and all the usual suspects were present including many of our Patron Members, C-Cor, Harmonic, Motorola, Pace, Scientific Atlanta, Teleste, Tratec/Technetix, etc.

Conference Themes The conference continues to attract a number of high-level nternational speakers, with presentations in German and English with simultaneous translation available. Sessions on the first two days were very well attended although tailing off a little on the last day. The opening address was given by Thomas Braun, President of the Association of Private CATV-Operators (ANGA). This was followed by a keynote panel session entitled 'Agenda 2010 - Switch off or Simulcast' that mainly focused on the problems in Germany where the existing use of the VHF/UHF spectrum without set-top boxes poses significant problems of introducing additional high-power DTT transmitters. The remaining conference split into two themes, Strategy and Technology with HDTV, IP, Wimax being major topics. Strategy panels also looked at finance, business, regulation and copyright. Thomas Braun, commented that "The global success of Highspeed Internet via cable has further increased many German operators' motivation to upgrade their infrastructures to interactive full service networks and has thus added to market upturn. The fair showed that interest in technologies for Triple Play offerings has increased significantly. Cable networks are and will remain the perfect medium to bring TV and Internet together in one terminal device and also to offer additional services such as telephony."		The packed opening session

The Harmonic stand.	HDTV and the Transition to Digital. Industry representatives, among others ASTRA and Premiere, agree that HDTV is a driving force for the nationwide introduction of digital offerings. "The technological innovations in this field are very promising", said Braun. "What is important now is that as much attractive content and as many broadcasters as possible transmit in this convincing standard. We see a special duty here on the part of the public broadcasters. Advance performance on their side would have a long-term stimulating effect on the market and would trigger manyfolded investments. HDTV is not only about simple zapping boxes, but about large LCDs and plasma screens, high quality HD-set top boxes, new camera and studio equipment and last but not least, the further upgrading of cable networks - with impact on manufacturers, trade and skilled trade." Braun also appealed to the Regulatory Authorities to stop the subsidies practiced so far and called for redirection of DTT-payments into a non-discriminating digitisation fund.

The Split Personality of the ANGA show It is interesting that whilst the exhibition embraced DTT and MATV, the conference still seems to take the traditional parochial view of 'Cable' and regard Terrestrial broadcasting and ADSL as major threats to its business.		The Scientific Atlanta stand

The C-Cor stand	Dates & Links The next ANGA Cable will take place from May 30 - June 1, 2006, in Cologne. Further information is available at the ANGA website. Patron Member Teleste used ANGA as an opportunity to launch its new ETTH product. Roger Blakeway reports on the event. Information on ANGA 2004 is still available.
© Society of Cable Telecommunication Engineers.