Cablefax The Magazine - April 2014 - 21

29 | Bright Ideas
Nomi Bergman
Title: President, Bright House
Networks
Years in Cable: 25+
Education: Economics and
Statistics, University of Rochester
Best Advice: Work hard at your passion. And be
kind. (And good things will happen to you).
Steve Miron
Title: CEO, Bright House
Networks
Years in Cable: 25
Education: American
University
30 | Legal Eagle
Melinda Witmer
Title: EVP/Chief Video Officer &
COO, Time Warner Cable Networks
(pictured, right)
Years in Cable: 20
Education: BS, U. of Arizona; JD, U.
of Pennsylvania Law School
Best Advice: Character is everything.
In 2013 Miron and Bergman celebrated Bright
House's 10th anniversary with a seventh
consecutive J. D. Power Award. And that's not
all. The company became Florida's secondlargest
phone provider thanks to a multiyear
contract with Hillsborough County Public
Schools, the nation's eighth largest school
district. Bright House also teamed up with
other cable companies to create hundreds
of thousands of new WiFi hotspots across
the country. And a new custom project with
a real estate developer to build Florida's first
" Gigabit communities " will roll out this year.
The MEF-certified company was the first
cable operator in the U.S. to be designated a
Cisco Master Service Provider under the Cisco
Cloud and Managed Service Program.
Witmer's crusade for digital rights
ownership came to a head last year in
a heated battle with CBS. While fees
went up, Witmer ultimately got the
rights she wanted, and then some.
Known across the industry as a tenacious
dealmaker, we can expect to see
her continue to dig her heels in against
increasingly high programming costs.
I watch the majority of programming
on this device: Cable box.
Channel surfing remains the domain
of cable, and Caller ID on TV works
on my cable box! How else would
you know the solar panel salesman
is calling for the 50th time?!
The biggest innovation in cable
over the last year: Better navigation
and " smart " applications. Cable
is a great value, and giving consum31
| Man of
the People
Peter Stern
Title: EVP/Chief Strategy, People &
Corporate Development Officer,
Time Warner Cable
Years in Cable: 13
Education: BA, Harvard University,
JD, Yale
Best Advice: Culture eats strategy
for breakfast.
Stern fosters a culture that attracts
and keeps quality talent in house,
Cablefax: The Magazine
all while juggling management of
product lines and functional groups.
It's a balancing act that will become
a bit trickier if TWC's people and
products join those of a certain giant
video distributor out there.
I watch the majority of programming
on this device: TV.
Always has been. Always will.
Everything else is a poor albeit
convenient substitute.
The biggest innovation in cable
over the last year: Ethernet Anywhere
TV Show I'd most like to have
April 2014
Bergman
TV show I'd most like to have a cameo in:
" Shark Tank " or " The Profit "
My favorite newfound hobby: Watching
TED Talks while doing P90X
One thing I would do all the time if I
could: Ski
Favorite vacation spot: Earthshine
Mountain Lodge in Lake Toxaway, N.C.
Beach or mountains? Mountains
Dish I can make and that would
impress a celebrity chef: Roasted
chickpeas with pasta
My favorite business/motivational book:
I recently read Wonder by RJ Palacio with
my daughter, and I was very moved by its
message. ■
ers better ways to find the depth
and breadth of content that cable
provides drives home the incredible
value proposition better and better.
TV show I'd most like to have a
cameo in: " Undercover Boss "
Cable exec I'd most like to see
twerking: Not a one.
Cable exec I'd least like to see
twerking: All of them, but least of
all myself.
I wish Congress would just... get
over it and get on with it.
My favorite newfound hobby:
Playing catch with my husky puppy,
Minka. She is tireless and you can't
stress about anything while throwing
a slimy chew toy over and over.
The technology that will most
benefit from cable over the next
a cameo in: I believe I'm already
playing a bit part in the sequel to
" 30 Rock "
Oscars or Grammys? Technical
Emmys
The biggest innovation in cable
over the last year: Current
Season Stack
If someone forced me to cut the
cord and only watch 3 over-thetop
shows, they would be: I tried
for a few weeks this year when I
moved and couldn't initially get Cablevision
at my house, and it was awful.
My family still hasn't forgiven me. ■
cablefaxmag.com
21
year is: Ongoing power of digital
cable. Better navigation. Better content.
Growing and improving On Demand
offerings. Bring the app world into the
digital cable world.
Favorite Cable Show memory: At
my first Cable Show, it was my job
to hand out chocolate chip cookies
at the HBO booth.
Justin Bieber or Miley: Well, I was
known to teepee a house or two in
my youth, so I guess throwing eggs
with Bieber would be more up my
alley than twerking with Miley.
Oscars or Grammys: Grammys.
Love the music and a whole lot less
stress and hype.
The day we get multiplatform
measurement is the day... we
stop calling it " multiplatform. " ■
http://www.cablefaxmag.com
Cablefax The Magazine - April 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cablefax The Magazine - April 2014
