December 1, 2008

CableFAX: 74. Cohencastic!: David Cohen

David Cohen
Title: EVP, Comcast
Last Year: #10
Age: 53
Education: Swarthmore College, BA; U of PA, JD

Why Him? There’s Brian Roberts. There’s Steve Burke. And then there’s David Cohen, who may not officially be the #3 guy at Comcast but might as well be as far as we’re concerned. Why? Cohen has his hands in everything at the nation’s largest MSO. Not only does he run the Washington lobbying operation with finesse, he’s heavily influential when it comes to Comcast’s strategy and public image — not to mention its efforts to increase diversity and spearhead other public affairs initiatives. Cohen rarely seeks publicity, but he doesn’t hide from it either. In fact, he held a high-profile dinner at his home in Oct and helped raise a whopping $6.1mln for Barack Obama’s campaign, a feat that got press in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Guess he — and, by extension, Comcast — made the right bet. Of course, you can’t win them all, which Cohen discovered when the FCC very publicly slammed the MSO’s network management policies earlier this year.

Worth Watching: In 2009, Cohen faces a new president, a new (and more Democrat-heavy) Congress and a new FCC chairman. All this as Comcast copes with the worst recession in decades.

Year Ahead:
All bets are off until a new FCC chairman takes the stage.

MG

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