July 1, 2010

2010 Top OPS Awards: Independent System Executive of the Year: Charlotte McClure

Charlotte McClure, VP/GM

Cable One

Cable One’s Joplin, MO, system endured a brutal retransmission consent battle with NexStar Broadcasting in 2005. Even though the station group pulled the signal for its local ABC and NBC affiliates for more than 11 months, the damage to the Joplin system was minimal, thanks to VP/GM Charlotte McClure.

The key was communications. A 29-year Cable One veteran, McClure made sure her employees were briefed daily about the company’s opposition to paying cash for stations that viewers could receive over the air for free.

"We communicated on a daily basis with our associates," she says. "They understood our position and were not shy about sharing it with customers wherever they were approached, be it in our office, at a checkout line in a supermarket, a school function or at church." In fact, "They made a point of wearing the Cable One logo so that people would approach them."

The way Cable One crafted and then presented the message also was important. It was direct and easy to understand and Charlotte McClure’s fingerprints all over it. McClure is known throughout the small town of Joplin (pop. 50K) for her deep roots in the community. She knows how to speak to her neighbors. That’s in part why Cable One’s message was well received. Basically the operator told subscribers: 1. We want to keep your rates down. 2. Your neighbors who don’t have cable are receiving these channels for free. So, why should you have to pay for these channels if your neighbor isn’t?

The system also handed out some 6,000 rabbit ear antenna to subscribers so they wouldn’t miss their favorite NBC and ABC shows, McClure says. The result of all this effort was that Cable One retained most of its subscriber base.

It’s not easy to explain the intricacies of retransmission consent to cable subscribers, who often blame their local operator when they lose a network. But McClure and her team succeeded in getting subscribers to understand that Cable One wasn’t to blame, NCTC SVP Dan Mulvenon says. "They explained that the loss of the signals was not because they dropped them, but because they were pulled," he says.

Cable One is gearing up for another round of retransmission consent negotiations with NexStar, with its current agreement to carry NBC affiliate KSNF-TV and ABC affiliate KODE-TV set to expire at year’s end. But after the previous battle, McClure doesn’t expect there to be a loss of signals this year. "I’m pretty confident that we’ll have it worked out before the end of the year."

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