Top Ops 2010
Its midsummer, which means at least three things: electric bills are up, the Mets are down and Cablefax: The Magazine is honoring independent cable operators and MSOs in its annual Top Operators edition.
As we do yearly, we’ve tweaked our awards a bit. This year we include categories that honor financial executives and technology. It makes sense to vary some of the awards year to year because in cable, the only constant is change.
We honor the scrappiness, innovation and good citizenship of our Top Operators honorees, who continue to inspire us with their passion for a business that gets under the skin and stays there, sometimes for generations.
Examples of the generational effect include the founders of our Independent Operator of the Year, Jim and Tom Gleason, whose father preceded them in the business. Our top MSO, Cablevision, has a father-son thing going, too, with Chuck and Jim Dolan.
Then there are people like Pat Thompson, one of our Independent Lifetime Achievement Award recipients (Tom Gleason is the other), who just can’t seem to retire (her leisure time loss is cable’s gain). But even our top Independent Marketer, cable newcomer Mitch Robinson of Click, whose purple passion literally went to his head, shows signs of having coax flowing through his veins.
Aside from all the fun and wisdom you’ll gain by reading this edition of Cablefax: The Magazine, you’ll also learn about the good works that cable companies are doing in their communities. From large MSOs like Time Warner Cable, to small indies like Rainbow Communications in Kansas, cable is supporting its communities.
Once again, we thank our friends at ACA, NCTC and NCTA, who’ve been invaluable partners in helping us recognize worthy operators. And speaking of recognition, we’ll ask our honorees to accept their awards during our Programming Awards event in New York City in October.
