“Echo boomers” are the 73 million+ children of baby boomers who say that, if forced to choose, they’d choose—gasp!—the PC over the TV. In the busy lives of the echo set, mobile phones and game consoles also rival TV in importance. For them, it’s all about mobility, portable content and networked devices. (They've been labeled echo boomers because they’re the demographic echo of their parents' generation. You may also know them as "Gen Y" or the "millennials." For more about them, check out this CBS News report.)

Why do the echo boomers' entertainment choices matter? Because they're quickly displacing their parents as household decision makers and in three years will be making nearly 25 percent of all household purchasing decisions. So, for communications and entertainment service providers, fulfilling the tastes and whims of these 15-to-25 year-olds is critical. Cox Communications President Pat Esser addressed The Media Institute last week and stressed the importance of paying close attention to the demands and buying habits of this generation.

Esser also addressed the critical importance of ensuring a level playing field for service providers, allowing the echo boomers and other consumers to determine the winners and losers—not unnecessary regulation that treats some companies unfairly. “Consumers will lose big on a tilted playing field that favors one provider over another. It’s not okay to have two wildly differing sets of rules for companies in a hotly competitive video business. And it’s not okay to burden providers in a competitive marketplace with arcane, cumbersome rules and regulations that stifle innovation, choke private investment and drive up prices for the new services that consumers deserve,” Esser said.

Click here to listen to the full speech.