The late Tip O’Ne ill said all politics is local. He
could have been talking about cable, too. The
influence of regional cable operators and
programmers, particularly in sports and public
affairs, has often been ignored when lists of
cable’s powerful are compiled. The rankings
below are our attempt to rectify that oversight.
With a few exceptions, this list, like the 100, places
one person in each slot, unless they work for he
same company and have similar titles. Some
of the executives on this list work for national
networks, but have regional responsibilities.
1. Randy Freer
President, Fox Regional
Cable Sports Networks:
Ranked #73 on our 100 list
last year, Freer’s portfolio of
nearly 20 RSNs passes more
than 80mln HHs and serves
as the cable home to more
than half of the MLB, NHL,
and NBA teams in the U.S.
2. Jon Litner
President, Comcast
Sports Group:
Litner’s kingdom includes
nets passing 40mln HHs that
are home to 18 pro teams in
seven of the top 10 DMAs.
New sets and more HD were
’08 highlights for Litner, who
won a national Punt, Pass &
Kick award as a 10-year-old.
3. Tracy Dolgin
CEO, YES Network
3. R ay Hopkins
COO, YES Network:
Why are these perennial
members of our 100 edition happy? Besides their
high ranking on our list the
’08 ratings will show that
this was the 6th consecutive year that YES was the
most-watched RSN in the
land. It also added 22 new
advertisers. All this in a
season when the Yankees
missed the playoffs and the
4. 22 avg rating for their
games was off from ’07’s
record 4.67. Think they’re
looking forward to ’09 with a
new ballpark? Oh, yes.
4. Steve Raab
President, SNY:
Like ’07, those lovable Mets
kept Raab and his Comcast
and Time Warner Cable
bosses happy until the last
day of the ’08 regular season. Other reasons for Raab’s
ebullience: his July acquisition of Big East football and
basketball and a revenue
spike of 500% for sny.com
5. Patrick Knorr
COO, Sun ower
Broadband:
Soft-spoken Knorr is a
regional player, but he’s
known throughout cable
as a brilliant visionary. His
masterpiece is Sunflower’s
tech profile, which is years
ahead of most ops’.
7. Mark Silverman
Pres, Big Ten Net: You
want influence? Silverman, who makes his 2nd
appearance in our 100 book,
oversees a network that had
30mln subs in its first 30
days of existence in ’07.
8. Pete Cirelli
VP, Sales & Marketing,
Charter East Div
9. Steve Weed
CEO, Wave Broadband:
Weed looks way too young
to have received a Lifetime
Achievement Award in our
Top Operators magazine last
summer, but Wave actually
is his 2nd go-round in cable.
Subs in his high-tech systems in Portland, Seattle and
SF are glad he’s back.
6. Barry Rosenblum
EVP, Texas Region,
Time Warner Cable:
The unofficial mayor of
regional cable, Rosenblum
is a regional player who also
enjoys a national reputation.
He ran TW Cable systems in
NY and L.A. before heading
south in January, where he
serves nearly 2mln subs in
Dallas Ft-Worth, San Antonio
and Austin.
8. Josh Jamison
Pres, East Div, Charter:
With his can-do personality,
avid NY Mets’ fan Jamison
has led the East Division to
double-digit revenue growth.
His colleague, Cirelli, gains
mention for his dedication
to the customer—he started
one of the industry’s first
loyalty programs. He has
helped make the East Division
Charter’s most financially successful region.
10. William Bridgen
EVP/GM, Comcast
SportsNet New England:
The well-respected and
popular Bridgen joined
SportsNet New England in
January, just as the resuscitated Celtics began their
championship run, boosting
game ratings by 116%. A
coincidence? We think it
was just another example of
Bridgen’s excellent timing.
