29 | Insightful
Michael Willner
Title: Vice Chairman/CEO, Insight
Last Year: #28
Age: 56½
Ed: Boston U, BS, Communications
30 | Lady of the Times
Lauren Zalaznick
Title: President, NBCU Women and
Lifestyle Ent Nets
Last Year: #53
Age: A day late and a dollar shorter
Education: Brown, BA, English/Pre-Med
31 | Family Affair
Bob Miron (center)
Title: Chairman and CEO,
Advance/Newhouse
Steve Miron
Title: CEO, Bright House Networks
Nomi Bergman
Title: President, Bright House Networks
Last Year: #27 (Bob)
Ages: 158 (combined)
Why Him? Insight was cut in half when
Comcast took over systems serving some 690K subs in IL and IN. But
despite his company falling to #10 in the
rankings of operators by size, Willner
continues to have big pull within the
industry. And you can’t ignore Insight’s
growth. It even added basic subs ( 3.8K
in 2Q was its best ever). Free cash flow
for ’07 totaled $82.5mln after being
negative in ’06.
Tech-No-Cat: Willner’s appeal goes
beyond numbers. He’s got a blog (www.
michaelsinsight.com/) and frequents
techie message boards. It seems he’s
everywhere, and almost never says no to
requests—he’s chairing The Cable Show,
co-chaired Kaitz and got suckered into a
2nd term as NCTA chair a few years ago.
Proud Moment: Willner was inducted
into the Cable Hall of Fame this year and
received Cable Positive’s Leadership Award. Restaurant: The Tower Bar, Sunset
Year Ahead: Tower Hotel, LA
It’s not time for a For Sale sign, and Favorite Maitre D’: Dmitri at The
probably not great timing for acquisi- Tower Bar
tions. Expect Willner to keep minding the Unnecessary Luxury I Like Most:
store and growing organically. A nap
Fave Show Not on My Network:
Project Runway
Last Book Read: Girl Boy Girl: How I
Became JT LeRoy by Savannah Knoop
Best Business Advice Received:
People don’t leave bad jobs, people
leave bad bosses.
Philosophy Of Life: Low hopes,
high expectations
CH
Why Her? The new media and digital
properties under Zalaznick’s purview are
all profitable, and Bravo’s profit jumped
20% in 3Q. Helping were outreach to
Bravo fans who provide regular feedback via polling, and a brand revamp for
Oxygen that features a hyper focus on
women 18-34. Record ratings this year
by Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood
on Oxygen and Bravo’s Project Runway
certainly didn’t hurt, nor did forward-thinking initiatives like the deal featuring
national ad offerings from Oxygen on the
Google TV Ads platform.
Red All Over: A cover story about
Zalaznick in The NY Times Magazine
added to the mystique.
Year Ahead:
Simple—Project Runway?
Why Them? With 2.3mln subs, Bright
House is firmly entrenched as the 6th
largest cable op. It’s the hard work of
this father-son-daughter trio that keeps
it there. Believing in being on the cutting
edge, they invested with Comcast and
TW Cable in Sprint’s Clearwire WiMax
JV. Last fall they oversaw the rollout of
switched digital video. Bright House also
grew digital phone subs by more than
50% last year and passed the 600K sub
mark, processing 200mln+ calls/month.
Proud Moment: Bright House Networks
was honored at Kaitz as a Diversity Champion for creating the first 24-hr Spanish-language news channel.
Favorite Food: Anything from Italy
Fave Show: Dexter…so watch out!
Favorite Part of My Job: Blogging
Worst Part: Watching Wall St
Cable’s Biggest Challenge: Improving customer service standards
I Wish My Kids Would: Get jobs
Hero: My wife, for putting up with me
AM
Last Books Read: Alexander Hamilton
by Ron Chernow (Steve), The Long Tail
by Chris Anderson (Nomi)
Favorite Food: Chocolate ice cream
(unanimous)
Favorite music: Steve and Nomi like
Coldplay recently. Bob likes Coldpacks
recently.
Best Business Advice Received:
Listen to Nomi (unanimous)
I Wish My Kids Would… Listen to
their father (Bob)
Favorite TV Show: The Big Idea
(Nomi), Curb Your Enthusiasm (Steve),
The Deadliest Catch (Bob)
Favorite Part of the Job: Coming to
work Monday mornings (unanimous)
Least Favorite: Going home Fridays
AM
