Cablefax The Magazine - December 2011 - 26

31 | SKY HIGH
Derek Chang
Title: EVP, Content Strategy and
Development, DirecTV (pictured)
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.
32 WHITE HOT
Charlie Thurston
Title: President, Comcast Spotlight
Steve Feingold
Title: SVP, Operations and Strategic Planning,
Comcast Spotlight
Years in Cable: 29
Hank Oster
Title: Corporate SVP/GM, Comcast Spotlight
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.
nhas (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 settop
box, I can't help but think
that: The DirecTV box is so much
better.
Bands I would actually go see
live: Madonna
The top-played selections on
my iPod: " Video Killed The Radio
Star "
Favorite sports team: Pink PiraYears
in Cable: 20
Best Advice in 7 Words or Less:
Collaborate, listen, ask questions and
be decisive.
Bill Haase
Title: Vice President, Finance & Administration
- Comcast Spotlight
Years in Cable: 10
Education: MBA, Michigan State
Best Advice in 7 Words or Less: In the end,
logic will prevail.
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 ◆
Why Them? Advertisers are becoming more
enchanted with cable every year, and this Comcast
dream team hasn't taken its collective foot off the
accelerator. They know that distributors' ability to
maximize revenue from local, targeted advertising
is a way for them to add to their coffers with little
capital input. Comcast Spotlight passed the 10
million home mark for interactive advertising applications
in 2010-wrapping the year as a $2 billion
business-and added another 4 million homes
by the middle of this year. Its recent affiliation with
AT&T U-verse for local ad sales builds on earlier
affiliations with Verizon and DirecTV (through NCC
Media), and this year Spotlight augmented its
offering by licensing Ensequence technology that
enables advertisers to customize graphics and
messaging, and customers the ability to request
things like product samples and coupons.
Year Ahead:
Being able to segment advertising
down to the DMA is cable's ace in the hole, priming
Comcast Spotlight to head into a big political year. ◆
26
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December 2011
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