Derek Chang

Title: EVP, Content Strategy and Development, DirecTV

Years in Cable: 17

Education: BA, Yale; MBA, Stanford

Best Advice in 7 Words or Less: Carpe Diem.

Dave Shull

Title: VP, Programming, DISH Network

Why Them? It’s clear the competition isn’t going to let up—and satellite’s programming powerhouses are a big reason why. Chang continues to prove himself one tough negotiator, taking on the NFL and more recently News Corp. DirecTV continues to reign as the ARPU leader, according to Infonetics Research, and recently debuted its multi-room DVR service, the Home Media Center. DISH had a Blockbuster year, besting the competition to buy the video retailer out of bankruptcy. So far, DISH is rolling out a hybrid model that continues mail orders plus streaming, including content from Sony Music Channel, Epix and others. But Shull and company are well positioned to go full-throttle against Netflix next year.

Play Ball: DirecTV in September launched the ever-popular NFL Sunday Ticket on Playstation 3.

Derek Chang

The biggest innovation in cable over the last year has been: Seriously?

Favorite “going out” town: Hong Kong

The one thing I tell my kids about success in life: Better to be lucky than good, and if you’re not lucky you’d better be prepared to work hard.

Bands I would actually go see live: Madonna

The top-played selections on my iPod: “Video Killed The Radio Star”

Favorite sports team: Pink Piranhas (my 7-year-old’s soccer team).

Favorite vacation spot: Any place I don’t understand the language.

This incident from my youth taught me an important lesson: The incident: Going away to boarding school at 14 and failing my first Latin test. The Lesson: Realizing at that point that I was in a different league and either had to step up or become road kill.

When I look at my cable set-top box, I can’t help but think that: The DirecTV box is so much better.

When it comes to retransmission consent, cable operators should: Get an antenna.

What puzzles me most about Millennials is: The need to broadcast to the world their every move and thought.

Number of companies I’ve worked for since graduating from college: 9 ?

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