January 22, 2008

Cable360 Update: Retirement Living  Is Good Working

Retirement Living TV Is A Great Place To Work, Zaslav Impresses Wall Street and other news

By Cable 360 Staff

Fortune’s Jan 28 edition names Retirement Living TV parent Erickson Retirement Communities as  the 93rd best company to work for on its annual “100 Best Companies to Work For” list. Erickson is the only retirement developer/provider in the US on the list. The 25-year-old company has grown from a tiny team of employees working in a small house on a seminary campus to more than 12,000 employees and 20,000 residents in 18 communities across 11 states. Interestingly, Retirement Living TV was named by CableWorld  as one of the best companies to work for.  [Fortune] [CableWorld]

Comcast International Media Group expanded its international senior management team by naming Duccio Donati SVP, Cheryl McDermott SVP, business ops and Gracia Waverly SVP, International Networks. The trio was rewarded for the success of E! Entertainment globally, which added 60 million during the past 4 years. Donati will oversee sales and licensing for E!, Style, G4, The Golf Channel, Versus and Exercise TV, as well as all worldwide home video, new media content and brand licensing. McDermott is now responsible for all joint ventures and business operations. Waverly is responsible for programming, on-camera marketing and operations for E! Entertainment Television's seven international networks, The Style Network and  future channel launches.

IFC has joined with Red Bull Energy Drink to develop an original, scripted Web series for IFC.com. The two companies will call on filmmakers to submit pilots through IFC’s Media Lab (medialab.ifc.com). The selected pilot will go into production as a complete online series for IFC.com and be complemented by a linear channel and online series of “making of” interstitials, in which IFC will document the Web series development process.  The premiere of the new Web series will officially launch Media Lab Studios, IFC’s  independent film studio focusing on Web and on-camera content, development and financing.

Briefly Noted
You might be be surprised to, er, discover that the best performing media stock during the past 12 months was Discovery Holdings, says Fortune editor at large Richard Siklos, who writes glowingly of the bold moves, including Oprah, made by new Discovery chief David Zaslav. [Fortune]

Last night’s CNN Debate between Democrat Sens Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and John Edwards (8pm-10:05pm) was the No. 1 most-watched primary debate in cable news history among total viewers and all key demos, CNN said based on Nielsen Fast Nationals - Live + Same Day. The debate averaged 4.9 million total viewers and nearly 2 million adults 25-54 years old.

Showtime renewed gritty series Brotherhood for a third season. The Rhode Island-based drama about politics and crime in Providence will shoot eight episodes. Another renewal comes from Bravo, which tapped Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List for a fourth season. The comedienne's outspoken reality series is set to return this year.

Yes, a few cable folk are actually working in Park City this week. Today Discovery Films premiered its doc Man on Wire at Sundance. The film tells the story of Philippe Petit’s successful walk between the towers of New York’s World Trade Center on a narrow steel cable in 1974. Mr Petit was on hand at the premiere. The film will be shown in theaters and eventually on Discovery Channel.

CableFAX Daily columnist Steve Effros says today’s news about Apple—whose Q1 net jumped 57% but whose shares fell 10% in after-hours trading on concerns about Q2— sounds terribly like the problems cable has had on Wall Street for years, making it impossible for responsible companies to remain public entities. Effros will expound upon this theme in his CableFAX Daily column tomorrow. [Wall Street Journal]

WICT announced its 2008 roster of Chapter Presidents (see below). In an awards ceremony last week, WICT honored the Atlanta and Pacific Northwest as Chapters of the Year. Atlanta also took first place for 2007 Chapter Programming of the Year, with New England in second and Southern California and Oklahoma tied for third. The Rocky Mountain and Greater Chicago chapters were recognized with the 2007 WICT Mentoring Excellence Award.

2008 WICT Chapter Presidents
Atlanta- Sheri McGaughy, The Weather Channel, Inc.
Carolinas- Cyndee Everman, Time Warner Cable
Greater Chicago- Kathryn Alexander, Beagle Insight, Inc.
Greater Florida – Angela Bruno, Bright House Networks
Greater Texas- Susan Patten, Time Warner Cable SW Division
Michigan- Olivia Visperas, Comcast
Midwest- Christine McMeley, Charter Communications & Elizabeth Statz, Comcast
New England- Lata Chawla, Performance Edge Training & Consulting
New Mexico/ Arizona-   Lori Green, Comcast
New York- Lori Givens, National Cable Communications
Northern California – Janet Root, A&E Television
Oklahoma- Lisa Crandall, Cox Communications
Pacific Northwest- Sarah DeZell, Comcast - West Division
Philadelphia- Susan Honness , Comcast
Rocky Mountain- Catherine Kilstrom, Comcast-West Division
South Florida- Virginia Sambuco, AFNI, Inc.
Southern California- Sherry Brennan, Fox Cable Networks
Tampa- Amy VanDell, Bright House Networks
Virginia- Stacie Vest, Cox Communications, Inc.
Washington, DC/Baltimore- Teresa Lee, Comcast

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