December 10, 2009

CableFAX: 29. Three-peat? Ed Carroll, Josh Sapan and Charles Collier

Ed Carroll
Title: President, Rainbow Entertainment
Age: 45
Education: BA, SUNY New Paltz
Social Media Quotient: 5

Josh Sapan
Title: CEO, Rainbow Media
Age: 58
Education: BA, U of WI
Social Media Quotient: 5

Charlie Collier
Title: President, AMC Age: 40
Education: BA, Bucknell; MBA, Columbia
Social Media Quotient: 1

Why Them? Mea culpa. Last year we doubted Rainbow’s future. "There are few ways," we wrote here, "to top having the first basic cable series to win a Best Drama Emmy." But AMC found one of those ways, with Mad Men again winning the Emmy, as did Bryan Cranston again (Best Actor in a Drama) for AMC’s Breaking Bad. Sorry, Charlie (Collier). With AMC and WE tv humming, let’s see what Sapan & Carroll do with IFC/Sundance.

Mad Money: Such irony. As advertising slogs through a recession, a TV series about advertising helps Rainbow post an eye-popping 18% increase in ad revenue in Q3. Mad Men also helped WE tv, AMC and IFC to an 11% YOY increase in revenue.

The Year Ahead:

Fool us twice? Nah.

Collier:

Favorite Food: Fava beans

Drink of Choice: Chianti

Last Book Read: Pinkalicious, with my 5-yr-old daughter.

I Wish My Kids Would: Stop hiding in my balloon that I have tethered out back.

Best Business Advice: Begin as you intend to proceed.

Carroll:

When I Need to Recharge I: Watch/coach/play baseball

Last Book Read: Lessons in Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam by Gordon M. Goldstein

Trait I Admire Most in People: Consistency

If I Were a Mad Men Character I Would Be: Drinking now

Business Advice: It’s a marathon not a sprint.

Sapan:

Last Book Read: Netherland by Joseph O’Neill

Favorite iPhone/BB App: Poynt

Favorite Show Not on Rainbow Nets: Nurse Jackie

Business Advice: The future ain’t what it used to be — Yogi Berra