Why Him? We hadn’t heard much out of Charlie lately and then, wham… He announces a deal for EchoStar to buy Sling Media—one of the most controversial but exceedingly cool technologies to hit the marketplace in recent years (Ergen was just ranked the richest Coloradoan with more than $10bln in net worth, so he could afford to buy a Slingbox for every household in America. Not saying he would do it. Just something to think about). In any event, that $380mln acquisition raises a lot of issues for programmers (especially those with location-sensitive sports content) as well as competitive issues for cable operators. Will Slingboxes continue to use “skins” that depict the MSO’s remote control or, as would seem more likely, adopt some kind of EchoStar-branded look? Who knows, but the world just got more interesting. And with 13.7mln subs and counting—not to mention a 13% increase in 3Q total revenue, Ergen remains a competitive force with new tricks always up his sleeve. MG
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Help CableFAX: The Magazine decide by nominating the executives you think should be included in our annual list of the Most Powerful Women in Cable. We will rank the top 50 most powerful women, and run a list of the second 50, in the November issue of CableFAX: The Magazine. Nominations are open to all cable operators, programmers, vendors and trade associations. Click here for nomination form. Deadline for nominations: Sept. 8.
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CABLEFAX: THE MAGAZINE
THE 100 POWER LIST It's time to get in your nominations for the CableFAX 100, version 2008. Nominate here. Deadline for nominations: Sept. 8.
Cable's stars turned out for the first annual CableFAX 100 luncheon at New York's Grand Hyatt last December. Catch Mad Men's Jon Hamm, Cash Cab's Ben Bailey as well as Sundance Channel's Larry Aidem and Cable Pioneer Bill Bresnan and others in our video from the wintertime event.
Who are cable's most powerful women executives?
Help CableFAX: The Magazine decide by nominating the executives you think should be included in our annual list of the Most Powerful Women in Cable. We will rank the top 50 most powerful women, and run a list of the second 50, in the November issue of CableFAX: The Magazine. Nominations are open to all cable operators, programmers, vendors and trade associations. Click here for nomination form. Deadline for nominations: Sept. 8.
CableFAX announces the launch of CableFAX Content Business, an online premium service featuring proprietary coverage of cable content, ratings, programming and advertising trends, new technologies and distribution channels.
Get a trial subscription to Content Business here. Read the press release.
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