Those Darned Kids!

By Michael Grebb

Prepare yourself. This year’s list will shake the very notion of time and space, challenge perceptions of reality, create a vortex into another dimension… OK, not really. But we’re definitely shaking things up this year. It all started when the editors got together during Kaitz Week to talk about the list. My colleague Seth Arenstein brought up the phenomenal success of Disney’s "High School Musical," which prompted a long conversation about how kids and youth-oriented content is changing the power structure of the media landscape. We just went with that theme for our entire top 10. Meanwhile, these young consumers are increasingly going online for their content fixes—thus, the addition of Google/YouTube, MySpace and iTunes. Controversial? Sure, but who wants a boring list with the same people in the same spots every year?

After making the point about kids/youth content, the list becomes a bit more traditional, although perhaps more “sectional” than in years’ past. We recognize the distributors first because they hold more gatekeeper power than ever with the triple-play and are wowing Wall Street. (We also threw in some next-generation distributors for fun). Then, we listed the big programmers, whose power has surged in the multi-platform world (VOD, broadband, wireless, etc). And speaking of all those platforms, we listed some of the key tech vendors next to recognize their increasing influence. Beyond that, we just did our best to rank the rest of our heavy hitters. Because of how the list is organized this year, those who found themselves at a much lower ranking shouldn’t read too much into it. Similarly, those who moved up shouldn’t get too cocky.

Finally, I want to personally thank everyone who sent in nomination forms. Sifting through all of these wonderful nominations and trying to narrow down the final list has been my biggest challenge since taking this position in June. I spent many sleepless nights going back and forth, and back and forth. I’m sure we missed a few great people who should have been in here. And I'm sure I'll hear about it. But I do know one thing: With so many talented and influential people in this industry, there’s no limit to how high cable can climb in the coming years. I included a picture of myself and my dog Cooper, by the way, figuring none of you could really hate a guy with such a cute pup. I mean, just look at him! Hope that works.

A big thanks to our CFAX 100 writers this year:

AM: Amy Maclean
CH: Chad Heiges
CAO: Catherine Applefeld Olson
MA: M.C. Antil
MG: See above
SB: Shirley Brady
SKA: Seth Arenstein

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Click here to return to the 2006 CFAX 100 List