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Annual-Report-2013.Pdf Annual Report 2013 The Cable Center Mission The Cable Center Staff Joyce Alden-Schuyler Laura Cymansky Jana Henthorn Jaime Reitz Robin Berhost Taylor Egner Matt Hollingsworth Larry Satkowiak Karen Chipley Bethany Friday Brian Kenny Karen Stone Diane Christman Lindy Hatch Cynthia Lang Shanah Zishka Sarah Clausen Robert Hecht Steve Luiting As of 12/16/13 2013 Board of Directors 2013 Honorary Board Chairman Directors Glenn Britt Gerald “Jerry” Levin Jerald L. Kent Bridget L. Baker Julian A. Brodsky Robert J. Lewis Nomi Bergman David Cohen John Malone Vice Chairman John Bickham Chuck Dolan Robert J. Miron Nickolas Davatzes Matthew C. Blank Frank M. Drendel Trygve E. Myhren Sean Bratches Alan Gerry Thomas F. Puckett Treasurer & Secretary Ann Carlsen Dr. Richard R. Green Leslie “Les” H. Read David Van Valkenburg Paul Cronin John W. Goddard John V. Saeman Brian Deevy Gustave M. Hauser Stanley M. Searle Executive Committee Jeffrey S. DeMond John Hendricks Gail F. Sermersheim Michael Fries Kenneth Lowe Leo J. Hindery, Jr. John J. Sie Larry Satkowiak Robert Gessner Peter Kalan Amos B. Hostetter, Jr. R. E. “Ted” Turner Michael Willner Marvin L. Jones Barbara York Phil Lind Paul S. Maxwell Phil McKinney Kyle McSlarrow Dan Moloney Josh Sapan Robert Stanzione Peter Stern Italia Commisso Weinand David M. Zaslav Larry Satkowiak Jerald Kent Dear Friends and Colleagues – We refined The Cable Center’s mission in 2013 to focus on five areas of concentration. These five programs include The Cable History Project, Cable Today & Tomorrow, Academic Community Programs, Customer Care Central and the Cable Hall of Fame. The Cable Center tells the story of the cable industry — the vibrant industry continually on the cutting edge of communications technology. Under the Cable History Project, we have defined three distinct generations of the cable industry. In the next year, The Cable Center will use this three-generation model to write a new book that tells the story of the cable industry. Barco Library will continue to produce more oral histories and increase the amount of content on our website. Cable Today & Tomorrow will concentrate on the cable stories from an active cable industry. It will work together with the Cable History Project to identify the trends and decisions that are important to the future of the cable industry. In both the Academic Community Programs and Customer Care Central initiatives, we have expanded our international outreach and continue to collaborate with our academic fellows and industry executives to educate our constituency. The Customer Care Committee (C5) group has embarked on a research project, through The Center’s Senior Fellows Drs. Ronald Rizzuto and Charles Patti, in an effort to develop CEM metrics and benchmarking results. We initiated international efforts at both Cable Congress, London and CTAM Europe, Barcelona. We participated as cable industry representatives in a media and legislative-focused cultural exchange with Turkey’s educational institutions and Parliament. At the NCTA Cable Show in Washington, D.C., we inducted six new members into the Cable Hall of Fame. We extend our congratulations to all of our inductees and sincere thanks to all of our sponsors for another excellent event. In addition, nine Students from Northern Virginia Community College received the De Sorrento Award this year and were given the opportunity to experience this year’s Cable Hall of Fame Celebration first-hand as student ambassadors. In the last six years, we successfully stabilized The Center’s financial condition. In the coming years, we will look forward to developing new programs and strategies to meet the demands of a constantly changing cable industry. We sincerely hope you will help us shape the future of The Cable Center through your input and contributions. Best regards, Jerald L. (Jerry) Kent Larry Satkowiak Board of Directors Chair President and CEO Annual Report 4 Cable’s Best 2013 Cable Hall of Fame honors six remarkable leaders The 2013 Cable Hall of Fame Celebration recognized six illustrious individuals who exemplify cable’s proud heritage of innovation and entrepreneurship. Induction into the Cable Hall of Fame is an award unlike any other; it preserves tradition, recognizes innovation and reflects the earned respect of one’s cable industry peers. Inducted this year were: JOHN M. EGAN JAMES P. MOONEY III TIMOTHY P. NEHER RICHARD PARSONS JOSH SAPAN AMY TYKESON Chairman Principal & Managing Partner Partner Senior Advisor President and CEO President and CEO Evolution Digital JLM Partners (deceased) Pilot House Associates, LLC Providence Equity LLC AMC Networks BendBroadband This illustrious group had much to say and much was said about them. JOHN EGAN “ Great ideas require teamwork and execution to become successful. Our industry, the largest privately funded construction project in history, succeeded because everyone was focused on the customer’s experience. Operations franchised, marketed, raised the capital and built the networks. Vendors constantly innovated to increase capacity and improve the quality of the technology to allow programmers to create and develop new content and applications − all to expand and enhance the subscriber’s options. It was truly a race; no operator, vendor or programmer ever succeeded by slowing down or playing defense. What a thrill to have run this race for over 30 years.” - Excerpt from John Egan’s acceptance speech JIM MOONEY “ Jim’s biggest contribution was organizing some level of unity and then finding other industries that would support our political position; which ultimately led to the 84 Cable Act, which essentially deregulated the industry.” - John Malone “ His political skills were both a mix of how he could manage the process legislatively and how he could manage the Executive Committee and the Board.” - Bob Miron “ If that Act had not passed and become law, you could probably make a case that the development of the modern cable industry would have been slowed down for at least a decade.” - Decker Anstrom (John Malone, Bob Miron, and Decker Anstrom on Jim Mooney’s contributions while at the helm of NCTA − Mooney tribute video) Annual Report 5 TIM NEHER “ I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Tim may be the best thing that ever happened to Continental Cablevision. I think the overriding thing was he was able to negotiate deals and let the other person feel that they had won some significant part of it. I don’t think he ever ended a transaction where he wasn’t a better friend of the guy he was negotiating with than when they started.” - Amos Hostetter on Tim Neher (Neher tribute video) DICK PARSONS “ Dick has been successful for a long time in a variety of settings both in government and the private industry and the legal profession. He’s a man of great integrity; he’s a man of great intelligence. He doesn’t need for everybody to know he’s the smartest guy in the room, but he usually is.” - Glenn Britt on Dick Parsons (Parsons tribute video) JOSH SAPAN “ It’s a wonderful time in the industry – this second Golden Age of Television. Cable not only has superior broadband and emerging TV Everywhere, it has the most iconic shows on the screen. It is also filled with amazing people who, to my mind, built one of America’s great industries. People like Chuck and Jim Dolan, whose pioneering spirits launched quite a few firsts in cable. Chuck is really an inventor working inside our industry. I like to think of him as my personal sort of “godfather of soul”. Jim has given me opportunities at key points in my career and supported me through the good (which wasn’t so hard) and the bad (which couldn’t have been easy).” - Josh Sapan (Excerpt from acceptance speech) AMY TYKESON “ When I started out at 23, I had a hunch the cable business was going to be a fun place to work. I feel lucky to have had truly remarkable experiences in programming, operations and industry leadership. I appreciate the opportunities I have been given, the mentors I have had and the friends I have made. Reflecting back on 33 years in the cable industry, I feel pride for what we have accomplished through investment, innovation and corporate citizenry. We have strong roots, talented leadership and the best platform for our customers. With more gender diversity, with applied innovation by small and large operators alike and by showcasing the horsepower we have under the hood, we will be unstoppable.” - Amy Tykeson (Excerpt from acceptance speech) BRIAN LAMB Bresnan Ethics in Business Award recipient Also honored was Brian Lamb, Executive Chairman of C-SPAN Networks, who received the Bresnan Ethics in Business Award. Introduced by The Cable Center Board Chair, Jerry Kent as, “a driving force behind C-SPAN,” the following is an excerpt from Brian Lamb’s acceptance speech: “The best thing about being here for this award is the name on it…10 years ago when Bill Bresnan bought the cable systems out there in the west; Montana, Wyoming, Utah and Colorado, he told me ‘When I build those systems I’m going to put C-SPAN 1, 2, and 3 in every one of them, and we’ll be out there together.’ We had the most fantastic week; we went to classrooms, to the people who ran the systems…The thing about Bill Bresnan, you just smiled when you saw him; talk about integrity.” ANDREA MITCHELL Reflects on the Honorees and the cable industry Before Andrea Mitchell, NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent and our evening’s emcee, commenced with the awards, she made these observations BRESNAN ETHICS IN about the awardees and the cable industry. “…in a quieter and equally profound BUSINESS AWARD way, the people we’re honoring tonight – and the cable industry – have also The Bresnan Ethics in Business Award changed the world.
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