CableFAX: 78. HD Dog: Steve Schiffman
Steve Schiffman
Title: EVP/GM, Nat Geo Channel
Last Year: #37
Age: 6 ½ (in Dog Whisperer years)
Education: Kellogg Graduate School of Management
Why Him? Schiffman was upped to GM in ’07, and helped NGC to a successful upfront: ad sales jumped 30%, with 100 new advertisers in the fold. In addition, the network’s prime-time HHs grew 5% in Q3 this year, compared with the same period the year before, and Nat Geo ranked as adult subs’ favorite digital basic cable net for the second consecutive year, according to Beta’s digital cable subscriber study. The 100th episode of Dog Whisperer in September perhaps best symbolizes Schiffman’s six-year tenure at NGC. It should be noted that Schiffman began his selling career as a 6-year-old Kool-Aid hustler on New York’s Upper East Side.
Proud Moment: NGC received the 2008 Governors Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for its Preserve Our Planet initiative.
Year Ahead: 
More HD sets, more viewers of HD content.
Favorite Restaurant: The Source in the Newseum in D.C.
Favorite Food: Pan-Asian
Favorite Show Not on My Network: Entourage
Philosophy: One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.
Favorite Sports Team: World Champion New York Football Giants
SG
