BY Wayne Karrfalt

Special to TelevisionWeek

The recently announced merger between the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau’s annual Sales Management Conference and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association’s Cable Show ’07 is expected to bring more national attention to the ad sales component of the business as well as provide a bigger forum for emerging technologies to increase opportunities for advertisers in the cable space.

“The decision to integrate our annual conference into The Cable Show ’07 reflects the shared commitment from both the CAB and NCTA to better serve our constituents by showcasing developments in advertising that are driving significant revenue growth for the industry,” said Sean Cunningham, president and CEO of the CAB.

Combining the two shows, which have been held within a week of each other for the past few years, will also help vendors present their products to a larger consolidated audience of media planners, operators and advertisers.

SeaChange, a VOD supplier, debuted its AdPulse On Demand Advertising system at this year’s CAB Sales Management conference. The system is built to insert ads into on-demand streams the moment a subscriber orders up the program.

SeaChange spokeswoman Judy Rossi said the combined conferences will help speed the development of advertising as a key component to the on-demand business model.

“We all know advertising has a role, but it has yet to be determined how it’s going to play out. Getting major players in the same space will help drive this and create some answers to the questions that remain about the business model,” she said.

The first combined show will be held May 7-9 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. This year’s CAB Sales Management Conference in Atlanta attracted more than 800 cable advertising executives, while the National Show had close to 15,000 attendees.

The CAB’s annual Cable Advertising Awards Show, recognizing the best in sales achievement, creative production and network sales promotion, will also find a new home within the newly combined convention.