What's happening in the Cable patch? Comcast said to gain rights to offer some Web TV channels nationwide; WideOpenWest files for IPO (3/24/2017)

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Comcast Said to Gain Rights to Offer Web TV Service Nationwide (Bloomberg)

Arris Raises Some New Ideas About Ruckus (Multichannel News)

Trump Praises Charter’s Already Announced Plans to Add 20,000 Jobs (Fortune)

Comcast puts Google on alert over ad crisis (Philly.com)

Republican Red-Tape Purge May Help AT&T, Comcast Use Data (Bloomberg)

Boulder's Boomtown teams with Comcast NBC Universal on Atlanta accelerator (Boulder Daily Camera)
Boulder-based Boomtown will manage Comcast NBC Universal's Atlanta accelerator, to be known as 'The Farm'.



Xfinity Communities Joins Fiber Broadband Association (CED Magazine)

Just what is Xfinity Communities? "We work with building and property owners, developers, leasing agents, and homeowners' associations to provide residents an entertainment experience like no other." https://www.xfinity.com/xfinitycommunities



Raycom: AT&T pushing U-verse blackouts to drive customers to DirecTV (FierceCable)

AT&T May Close UVerse.com In May (TVAnswerman)

Dodgers TV standoff lives on as AT&T, Justice settle lawsuit (LA Times)

WideOpenWest Files for $100M IPO in the Wake of Snap, Mulesoft (The Street)


Comcast Eyes Upstream Expansion as it Pulls Fiber Deeper (Multichannel News)

Don't Miss Phorum 2017! Register Today and Last Chance to Apply for the Demo Pit. (Deadline March 24)

Don't Miss Phorum 2017!

Register Today and Last Chance to Apply for the Demo Pit.
Phorum 2017: Digitizing the Enterprise – The Future is Now, to be held Thursday, April 27, 2017 at the SugarHouse Event Center, will feature lightning talks and panel discussions by industry analysts, technology visionaries, and business executives.

Check out the 2017 agenda and reserve your spot!

Geoffrey Moore, whose life work is focused on the market dynamics surrounding disruptive innovations, will keynote this year's conference.

Phorum 2017 is looking for startup companies whose technology is addressing at least one of the following four topic areas: Connected (Mobile, Web, IoT); Aware (big data and analytics); Smart (machine learning/AI); and Trusted (privacy and security).

Tomorrow is the last day we are accepting applications for the Phorum 2017 Demo Pit. This popular competition allows conference attendees to experience, first-hand, some of the most innovative technologies under development in the Greater Philadelphia region and watch them vie for “Phorum Best in Show”, won last year by RedOwl.

The deadline to apply is March 24, 2017.

Calling All Demo Pit Call Companies

New: InstaMed User Conference 2017 in Philly this week; What the well-funded company is all about http://goo.gl/lEVqVf

Tom Paine

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The InstaMed User Conference 2017 will be held next week, March 27-29, at the Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia followed by the Annual InstaMed Network Bash at the Down Town Club.

InstaMed is a leading health care payments network, connecting providers, payers and consumers on one platform. Its network connects over two-thirds of the market and processes tens of billions of dollars in health care payments annually. Founded in 2004, its headquartered in Philadelphia with technology operations based in Newport Beach.

InstaMed once published the amount of annual billings processed through its platform. The last figures I've seen were $30 billion in 2012. The pie is growing; direct consumer expenditures on healthcare are expected to approach $600 billion in a few years, InstaMed tells me, as deductibles rise along with other factors, including heath savings accounts. Changes to health care law now being considered in DC could further accelerate this trend.

InstaMed has raised $126 million in venture funding according to CrunchBase, the most recent being $50 million late last year from Carrick Capital Partners, which also happens to be a major investor in Plymouth Meeting & Seattle-based Accolade Health, which again fits into the theme of consumers managing and paying for more of their own health care. There are also local investors, including Osage Ventures Partners, Actua (formerly ICG), Ben Franklin, NJTC, and Josh Kopelman from a personal fund. InstaMed is likely one the Philly area's highest valued venture-backed companies, though I don't have a clue as to actual valuation. InstaMed's been quiet on the subject.

And there are several Penn connections; not institutionally as far as I know, but in terms of people. Go to a Penn basketball game and an InstaMed board meeting might break out.

I thought this recent interview the website HISTalk conducted with InstaMed CEO Bill Marvin gave a clear picture of what InstaMed is trying to accomplish as the market for health payments changes.

Joseph A. Michelli, a New York Times #1 best-selling author and consumer experience expert, wiil be the keynote speaker at InstaMed User Conference 2017, with the theme 5 Things Healthcare Can Learn From Zappos and Starbucks,' on the simplification of the experience. There will also be an Innovation Lab, demoing how payments will work in The Hospitals and Health Systems of the Future.

There will be presentations from prominent users - both regionally (Lehigh Valley Health Network, Geisinger Health Plan) and nationally. And InstaMed will also release its "Trends in Healthcare Payments Seventh Annual Report'.

InstaMed seems completely focused on enhancing its unified private cloud platform for health care consumers, payers and providers. It believes it is helping to drive down transaction costs, helping providers recoup more fees and helping consumers by providing more payment options and plans as well as simplifying the process and making it more secure. I've been curious to learn of any longer term strategies, including perhaps one built upon leveraging the aggregate information it collects, but InstaMed hasn't wandered far from its main goal.

Registration for the conference, open to anyone with an interest in health care payment systems, costs $149.

SAP Announces SAP.iO Fund to Drive Startup Innovation

WALLDORF, Germany, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SAP SE (SAP) today announced the SAP.iO Fund, seeded with an initial investment of US$35 million, to make early-stage investments in software startups that will expand the SAP® ecosystem. The fund is just one component of the SAP.iO open innovation model, which enables innovators both inside and outside SAP to use the power of SAP data, application programming interfaces (APIs) and platform technologies to unlock new value for customers.

As part of the announcement, SAP.iO launched the global SAP.iO Foundry program to incubate early-stage startups that build software applications, including those using frontier technologies such as machine learning and blockchain. Locations are the SAP.iO Foundry in San Francisco and the SAP.iO Foundry, powered by Techstars Accelerator in Berlin — this location will be managed by Techstars, a worldwide entrepreneur network. These new foundry locations will complement existing SAP.iO startup incubation partnerships with Techstars IoT in New York City and the Junction in Tel Aviv.
"Our open innovation model continues to deliver value to our customers," said Deepak Krishnamurthy, chief strategy officer, SAP. "In addition to empowering our employee innovators, SAP.iO will use its fund and foundries to invest in entrepreneurs that develop industry-changing software."
The first startup to receive funding from SAP.iO is Parable Sciences, Inc. (known as Paradata), a Big Data analytics company based in San Jose, Calif. Paradata's use of machine learning to offer greater supply chain transparency complements SAP Ariba® solution capabilities in direct material sourcing and supply chain visibility. In addition to funding, SAP.iO and SAP will provide the startup with mentorship, customer introductions and access to platform integrations and APIs that will help Paradata deliver new and unique opportunities for customers.
SAP creates and supports a culture of innovation across its entire ecosystem to develop technology that is critical to supporting SAP customers' journeys to digitization. Among the many paths to innovation at SAP is SAP Labs Network, which includes 19 labs across 16 countries; SAP Innovation Center Network, comprising 10 locations globally that focus on new ideas in a startup-like environment; and intrapreneurship opportunities and incubators such as SAP.iO.
"SAP.iO will create a new ecosystem to help accelerate digital transformation for our 350,000 customers," said Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP. "We have a message for entrepreneurs: if you have a bold dream to solve one of the world's most significant challenges, join us and let's chase your dream together."
For more information, visit the SAP News Center. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.
About SAP.iO
SAP.iO is growing a generation of revolutionary software businesses in the SAP ecosystem and supports visionary entrepreneurs leveraging SAP data, APIs and technologies to build products, find customers and change industries. SAP.iO uses the same unique assets to empower startup teams within SAP to transform the way businesses are run. For more information, visit http://sap.io/.
About SAP
As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 345,000 business and public sector customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.