Sports Man
Name: George Bodenheimer
Title: Co-Chairman, Disney Media Networks; President, ESPN/ABC Sports
Why Him? Bodenheimer’s bent on maintaining ESPN’s sports media dominance through a concerted multiplatform push—an effort made tricky by the company’s breadth and depth. But you know what? It’s succeeding. He’s piloting the offense much like the Patriots’ Tom Brady (who shined on the net’s “MNF”), with laudable efficiency and a healthy measure of creativity. The adept and proven component parts certainly ease execution, but Bodenheimer always exhorts ESPNers and family franchises to expand, improve and adapt. ESPN’s MVNO tanked, but now ESPN Mobile TV is well armored and set to deliver roughly 70 live NBA games to handsets this season. ESPN.com is at once labyrinthine and navigable, with more talent, video, pages and podcasts added almost daily. Steadily growing its distribution, ESPNEWS is also ready to improve through an HD launch in early ’08 on cable and satellite. And perhaps most important, few programmers cross-promote linear and Web content better than ESPN. Bodenheimer strives to make the worldwide leader in sports—even as it changes—the one competitors continue to chase. CH
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