Juan Carlos Rodriguez

Years in Cable: 16

Education: BA, Business Administration, Universidad Iberoamericana; Senior Management Program, IPADE; Advanced Management Program, Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania

While Rodriguez’s accomplishments at Univision Deportes merit praise, his leadership on the humanitarian front was especially impressive over the past year. He united the sports media industry to support communities affected by 2017’s natural disasters. Rodriguez spearheaded a multi-network fundraiser through UCI’s “Unidos por los Nuestros” campaign. The two-day joint telecast encouraged viewers to donate money to disaster relief, raising $1.3 million for the American Red Cross and other non-profile relief organizations.

An area where media/broadband could use improvement? Listening to the consumer. Every day they are telling us something, by tuning-in, tuning-out, binge-viewing, or cutting the cord, the consumer is telling us what they like, what they don’t and what their expectations are.

What does the future look like for skinny bundles and flexible packaging? Bright, very bright. There is no turning back on this new age of fragmentation, now as an industry we need to make sure we adapt and provide our consumers with the options and packages that better serve their needs and interests.

If you wrote a “Black Mirror” episode, what dark side of technology would you explore and why? Video conferencing systems! It doesn’t matter how state-of-the-art your system is, you always need to have at least three IT team members try to make the thing work with the inevitable: “Do you see us? We can’t hear you” over and over.

What product or service could you not live without? That is a tough one, but I would have to say the smartphone. You can do so much with it, both professionally and personally. Thanks to this “product,” while I am always on the road, I am never away.

Last show I binged not on my network(s): “La Casa de Papel” (“Money Heist”) on Netflix. A series from Spain about a heist of the Spanish mint in Madrid.

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