February 22, 2018

ACA To Host 25th Anniversary Dinner At U.S. Institute Of Peace

Moonlight Monument Tour Offered After Dinner

PITTSBURGH, February 22, 2018 – The American Cable Association is launching the 25th Summit on March 20-22 in Washington, D.C., with a celebratory Anniversary dinner that will feature key industry leaders and ACA members who have witnessed the transformation of the cable and telecommunications industry. The dinner will be held held from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on March 20, 2018, at the U.S. Institute of Peace adjacent to the U.S. Department of State and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Joining ACA to speak at the milestone event are former House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman William J. (Billy) Tauzin and former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt.

Founding ACA member and first chairman of the organization, David Kinley, President, Sun Country Cable of Pleasanton, Calif., and current ACA Chairman Robert Gessner, who is President of MCTV in Massillon, Oh., will speak on how ACA started as an all-volunteer organization and grew to become a leading voice in Washington communications policy arena.

“We are honored to have Chairman Tauzin and Chairman Hundt with us at this great event, because they were there at the very beginning when ACA was created by our members in 1993,” ACA President and CEO Matthew M. Polka said. “We look forward to their reflections on the 1992 Cable Act that gave rise to ACA and their outlook on the road ahead.

“We are also so honored to have Dave Kinley and Bob Gessner – two leaders who have created the vision for independent cable companies – and many of our former ACA leaders and Board Members,” Polka added. “It was Dave Kinley who helped to build ACA from scratch and who coined the phrase for us, ‘Fatigue is not on the agenda,’ which we still live by each and every day for our members. And we are so pleased to hold our special event at the U.S. Institute of Peace, which is an ideal setting to reconnect with colleagues, reminisce about ACA’s early days and celebrate the accomplishments of our members.”

The U.S. Institute of Peace has a bipartisan board of directors that by statute includes the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, and the President of the National Defense University.

President Ronald Reagan signed legislation creating the Institute in 1984, which was created by leaders in Congress who had lived through the devastation of war and hoped to prevent it in the future.

Immediately following the 25th Anniversary Dinner, attendees are invited to embark on a bus tour of the monuments in D.C. Tour guides will share little known facts about the city’s history of the most famous sites, including the Jefferson, MLK Jr., and Washington monuments, the World War II Memorial, the Tidal Basin, Smithsonian Museums and Garfield Circle.

The theme for this year’s ACA Summit is “Standing The Test Of Time,” a statement indicative of the endurance and dedication shown by independent operators over many years in creating a collective voice in Washington. Over the course of ACA’s history, the independent cable community always embraced the wisdom of Abraham Lincoln, who said, “Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.”

The ACA Summit website includes event details and secure online registration. Please visit the ACA Summit 2018 website by clicking here: ACA Summit.

The event will take place at the Grand Hyatt, 1000 H Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20001. This year’s Summit includes the annual “fly-in” to Washington with its members and, as such, will use the Twitter hashtag #Summit25 for all social media about the event. You can also track ACA Summit news on Twitter by following @ACASummit.

About the American Cable Association: Based in Pittsburgh, the American Cable Association is a trade organization representing nearly 750 smaller and medium-sized, independent cable companies who provide broadband services for nearly 7 million cable subscribers primarily located in rural and smaller suburban markets across America. Through active participation in the regulatory and legislative process in Washington, D.C., ACA members work together to advance the interests of their customers and ensure the future competitiveness and viability of their business. For more information, visit https://acaconnects.org/