Cablefax The Magazine - July 2016 - 20

2016 Top Ops Awards
INDEPENDENT TECH EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR
Michael Hain
Nittany Media
A second-generation executive in his family business, Michael Hain
has climbed more poles and run more cable and fi ber than many of his
peers. But the GM/CTO of Lewistown, Pa.-based Nittany Media, whose
track record places him well ahead of the curve on technology deployments,
doesn't hesitate when asked what he believes is his greatest
industry legacy. " We brought the Internet to a very rural community, and
we did it early-by '97-and we did it as community service, " he says.
Nittany's provision of T1 level broadband access in kindergarten classrooms
in a rural school district was particularly signifi cant, Hain says,
because " these kids had not only Internet, but broadband their entire
school career... way before big cities like Philadelphia. "
The deployment also ushered in a business priority to wire local
schools, community centers and homes as Nittany continues its honor
its pledge to bring " fi ber to the farmer. " Hain and the Nittany team
have helped schools and entire districts create data centers, pare
down server needs, eliminate overall network costs and not only keep
step with, but often exceed peers in urban locales.
Also high on his list of accomplishments was Hain's leadership in
connecting US troops deployed overseas to " the home and pop culture
they protect and enable, " he says, a feat whose genesis dates
back to 1993 when he discovered digital video provided by a CD on
an IBM PC and realized cable needed to provide 300kbps to each
consumer device, not just each customer.
" When our local high school sports coverage was needed by parents
deployed to the Gulf War, we were able to provide a global stream. Our
active troops were able to see their own kids play local high school
football from half way around the globe. One of the best uses of technology, "
Hain says. " Later, we assisted some of our deployed families
to set up and utilize 'Sling Box' [type] technology in their homes. "
" There is a quote that I attribute to my father: 'When you do the right
things for the right reasons, good things happen.' By installing a
complimentary community WAN for the school district, we were able
to develop the skills and technologies that enabled our successful
DOCSIS deployment three years later. We're 10Gb now throughout the
school district, with Gigabit eRated Internet customers. "
Cable runs deep in the Hain family. " When the other kids were going
down to the river fi shing, my dad and I were going up the mountain
with an inch and a quarter mast with an antenna, and we were fi shing
too-fi shing for a distant signal, " he says.
And it's his unwavering commitment to the communities Nittany
serves that makes Hain an ambassador for net neutrality and other
practices that benefi t independent operators. On his docket are a push
for greater transparency and parity in pricing, a move to unbundle
programming, and the elimination of the practice where high-cost
programming is " forced " onto basic cable.
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cablefaxmag.com
As Hain stated as part of ACA comments fi led to the FCC, " To be called
a gatekeeper to justify regulation, in my view, is completely disrespectful. "
He further explains to Cablefax, " My feeling is we are enablers.
If it weren't for us, pushing ahead and using economies of scale and
developing standards such as DOCSIS, we'd still be in the kilobit age,
not the megabit age. We brought the Internet to our communities and
our schools and we keep them connected with the world. "
As a technology innovator, Hain has seen the landscape shift dramatically
through the years, landing him, as he says, " in the thick of the
thick " of retransmission agreements, FCC rulings and the like. The Hain
family also operates a couple of radio stations and a TV broadcast station,
providing him a window to multiple sides of some of today's issues.
" The challenge is not the technology. Technology is easy, " he says.
" The things that are diffi cult are the rights of way, franchise agreements,
for TV Everywhere getting the distribution rights. We're caught
in the middle of all that, and it makes it hard to innovate, but that's
what we do. Being a smaller operator, that's a challenge we have. "
To help stay on top of challenges, Hain maintains a long-term view of
tech innovations and isn't afraid to espouse an unfashionable opinion.
" I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings and may be wrong on this, but
from my assessment DOCSIS 3.1 is an interim technology, " he says.
" The new studio standard for video is 120 frames per second at 12
bits per pixel, then when we move to 4K we're looking at calculations
somewhere close to 160 gigabits per second, uncompressed. DOCSIS
3.1 will get us fi ve years maybe. We need direct to switched fi ber. "
FAST FACTS
uThe company that would evolve into Nittany Media was
founded by Michael Hain's father Henry " Hank " Hain in 1957.
uHain climbed his first cable tower at age 3, during a
neighbor's barbeque.
uHe majored in industrial and systems management
at Penn State University.
uHain oversaw the build of his first cable system, in
Greenfield, PA, during his first summer after college in 1977.
July 2016
Cablefax: The Magazine
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Cablefax The Magazine - July 2016

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