December 12, 2007

YES Sir

Name: Tracy Dolgin
Title: Pres/CEO, YES Network

Name: Ray Hopkins
Title: COO, YES Network

Why Them? Each baseball season in the Big Apple is typified by 3 things: George Steinbrenner fomenting controversy, the NY press vilifying the Yanks for anything less than sublime play, and YES leading all national RSNs in viewership (now 4 years straight). But Dolgin and Hopkins know the net’s lofty reputation and value—Forbes ranks it among the world’s top sports brands, valued at $500mln—stems from much more than linear ratings. The pair has been expanding the YES brand through online partnerships with the likes of Google, Yahoo! and YouTube. Uniques to YesNetwork.com have nearly doubled since last summer, and registered users of the net’s mobile alerts have doubled each month since Feb. YES HD, launched in Apr, now reaches nearly all of the YES’ subs. It’s a multi-platform game, and Dolgin and Hopkins are playing to win. The Yanks just hired a new skipper, but don’t expect any changes atop YES.  CH     

Tracy Dolgin
Favorite Restaurant: “Shun Lee Palace in New York (the East Side one, of course)”
Favorite TV Show: “Curb Your Enthusiasm”
Favorite song: “Baba O’Reilly” (The Who)
Three things I would take on a desert island: “A DirecTV dish, TiVo box and a nuclear-powered generator.”
Favorite sports team: “Do I have to say the name!?”
Defining career moment: “Launching Fox Sports.”
The world would be a better place: “If the 2000 presidential election had been decided by popular vote.”
Favorite line from a movie or TV show: “I’m the captain of this bus” - Atomic Bus
I knew the cable industry was for me when: “I figured out that two revenue streams were better then one.”
Favorite city: “Barcelona”

Ray Hopkins
I knew the cable industry was for me when: “I noticed all the great trips clients and customers went on.”
The cable industry’s biggest challenge in 2008 is: “Addressing the telco rollouts.”
Biggest cable surprise of 2007: “FCC Chairman Martin is still hung up on a la carte.”
In my free time, I like to: “Hang out with my wife and children, golf, and go to baseball games.”
Favorite restaurant: “Morton’s Steakhouse”
Favorite city: “After New York, it’d be Las Vegas.”
Three things I would take with me to a desert island: “My Blackberry, a sand wedge and a Corona.”
Favorite Song: “Born To Run” (Springsteen)
Favorite TV show not on YES: “The Shield” (FX)
Favorite movie: “Jerry McGuire”
Favorite piece of tech: “Blackberry”
My perfect vacation goes like this: “A stopover in Las Vegas en route to an extended stay in Hawaii.”


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