Recap Telco TV and WFX conferences

I attended the Telco TV conference and exhibition on Monday and Tuesday in Atlanta then moved to the WFX Worship Facilities conference and tradeshow at the Cobb Galleria just outside Atlanta. Both shows were well attended.

TELCO TV EXPO

At Telco TV the focus is on broadcast technologies for the Telecom industry, especially the emergence of IPTV as a broadcast medium for telephone companies. IPTV allows the telco's to reach their subscriber base with programing geared to compete for advertising dollars and the attention of their subscribers. Exhibitors at the show included broadcast technology manufacturers, systems integrators, networks, satellite and distribution carriers, advertisers and others aiming their products and services to the Telecom industry.

Many telecom's are well funded and sufficiently capitalized to fund the heavy front end costs of "head end" technology and equipment and systems needed to launch an IPTV broadcast infrastructure. This is more true for Tier I telecom's than it is for Tier II and Tier II which are represented by smaller rural telephone companies. Part of the difficulty for these firms is that while the costs are significant to launch an IPTV capability the fact remains that the growth of subscribers is gradual and corresponding revenues mirror the graduated growth of the subscriber base. Consequently operating budget strategies (vs. Capital budget funding) may be appealing for telephone companies seeking to match the timing of costs to the timing of revenues.

WFX WORSHIP EXPO:

The WFX Expo is designed to help churches and religious broadcasters explore new facilities, technologies in worship and media products and services aimed at helping churches reach their existing congregations as well as expand their congregations. Exhibitors at the Expo include architects, contractors, audio visual and media technology vendors, suppliers, systems integrators, seating and lighting contractors, computer technology and software for church management and bible study, and virtually every type of facilility and technology one might expect to encounter in a modern church expansion project.

The role of financing for churches was prominent at the WFX expo with no less than a dozen lenders and funding sources of various types represented with tradeshow booths and offerings.
A common aspect for most of these lenders is that their focus is on real estate lending, construction loans and long term financing. Less featured but just as key for churches is that they develop not only strategy for their construction project but for broadcast and media technology that equips the facility. A key difference between real estate or construction lending and media technology financing is that most technology depreciates and become obsolete in a few short years. This means that careful planning needs to be made to separate technology financing from church mortgage lending.