17. Sinclair Spoilers

Jerry Kent
Title: CEO, Suddenlink
Age: 50
Years in Industry: 24

Rocco Commisso
Title: Chairman/CEO, Mediacom
Age: 56

Why Them? These guys have been in the trenches with Sinclair Broadcasting Group. Shortly after Jerry Kent’s Suddenlink (formerly Cebridge) closed on deals that put his company well past the 1 million sub mark, Sinclair threw a wrench into everything by demanding more than $40mln for carriage of two Charleston, WV-area broadcast stations. Dropped broadcast affiliates aren’t the best way to greet new subscribers. After some public warfare, the two quietly settled on some “mutually agreeable economic considerations,” which you can bet didn’t include $40 million in cash. Commisso was in the middle of his own retrans battle with Sinclair at press time, with Mediacom filing an antitrust suit after the broadcaster tried to tie carriage of Big 4 broadcast affiliates in some markets to carriage of less desirable Sinclair stations in other markets. That’s a pretty big step for the MSO. While Commisso has built a reputation as a scrapper when it comes to content negotiations, we can’t recall Mediacom ever filing a lawsuit over a programming deal before. Guess Sinclair crossed that line in the sand. - AM

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Jerry Kent

Top personal achievement in 2006: “Teaching my 16-year-old son how to drive and then watching him drive off on his own for the first time.”
Favorite city: “Barcelona, Spain – beautiful people, great food, very entertaining.”
Favorite song:  “‘American Pie’ (by Don McLean). We closed off our 2006 management conference with my traditional (and poorly vocalized) performance of this song.”
Favorite sports team: “Any team playing against the Chicago Cubs. (Yes, I am a St. Louis Cardinals fan!).”
Favorite piece of tech: “My ‘CrackBerry.’ I am addicted.”

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