SCTE Cable-Tec Expo is in Philadelphia September 19-22, a triumphant return to an in-person cable-fest since the 2019 show in New Orleans – just mere months before the whole world went to hell. 

But the show is back. Booths will be erected. Real, live people will be milling around schmoozing. Technology and products will be on display that can be seen and (gasp!) touched.

Prediction: Someone might get drunk! 

And Light Reading will be there to cover it all! Or at least as much as we can get to before our brains melt under the white hot pressure of engineering diagrams, mathematical equations and enough slide decks to make a product manager weep with joy. 

But what will this year's show be about? Feel free to check the event schedule to get a sense of what's what. You'll see sessions on DOCSIS 4.0, rural broadband, AI, an update on cable's power efficiency efforts, something about how cable's combating video piracy, and an announcement on who is going to take home the big money in the "10G Challenge."

Please, read away if you must. 

But audio can be – nay, is – much more fun! In this episode of the Light Reading Podcast, editors Jeff Baumgartner and Nicole Ferraro and cable analyst/guru Alan Breznick chew the fat on what they think the show will be about, or at least what they think it should be about. The point? Thinking occurred. 

We'd tell you more here, but that would be like spoiling the finale of Lost. Please go listen to our banter. You'll be glad that you did. 

Or if you're still the reading type, you can download a lightly edited transcript of the podcast here.

Or if you're just too damn busy getting ready for the show and only have time to cherry pick the audio, here's a timestamped list of stuff we chatted about: 

• Our sense of what the hot topics will be at the show (01:09) 
• Hey, there's not a lot on the agenda specifically about a five-letter F-word (4:25) 
• Alan reviews what's in store at the Light Reading-hosted breakfast sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday of the show. Chance of bacon: 87% (05:26) 
• What we think will be the focus of the opening general session (7:00) 
• Should the industry be concerned about slowing broadband subscriber growth? Short answer: yep (11:15) 
• We speculate on whether Comcast will remain the Lone Wolf when it comes to Full Duplex DOCSIS (14:30) 
• Predictions on the big takeaways from the show (16:45) 

— Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor, Light Reading

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