Tim Hermes, BGR CEO

Can it be True? Well, can it?

A press release hit my in-box March 1 where UK-based STB provider PACE announced it was now the second largest set-top provider in the world. Wow. I woulda never guessed it because in my usual way of thinking, if its not used primarily in a US system it must be, well, riding the bench for a reason. Oh, how wrong I can be. It’s interesting to see PACE do so well and I am happy for them. Knowing many of the PACE US guys I can tell you no group of employees works harder, so I am sure that is reflected across the pond.

Which leads me to the bigger point. When it comes to US cable TV, what I see in systems is pretty much red-white-and-blue. I think its cool that our industry seems to conscientiously go “America First” when it comes to buying gear for their systems. Certainly, if you look at BGR’s ad roster, nearly all of our sponsors are American companies.

But it also tells me how myopic we can be. The world doesn’t end at the US borders. In fact I was pleasantly reminded of that this week at the SCTE’s Canadian Summit when I saw some great technology from up North and met the technologists and engineers that created it. (Side note: The Canadians are THE nicest people on earth.)

The bottom line? Its a big world, Sparky. PACE has looked beyond our borders for their growth. They’ve done some nifty maneuvering and partnering here in the states to develop a solid revenue stream, and developed technology operators abroad want. My take-away from this little lesson? There’s still a big piece of the pie out there for US vendors. There’s only 300 million or so Americans. But there are BILLIONS of people on this rock we share.

And many of them have cable.

Tim Hermes is CEO at Broadband Gear Report. Email him at timhermes@comcast.net.