Cablefax The Magazine - November 2010 - 4

cablefaxmag.com
editorial
WHAT'S CHANGED?
Each year as we create this magazine honoring
cable's women, our staff looks at the previous
year's book.
Inevitably, we're tempted to compare the
current condition of women in cable versus
12 months earlier. We also think about the
industry climate, popular culture, politics, the
economy, media's portrayal of women. Call it
an early retrospective on the year.
On the face of it, little seems to have
changed.
While programmers can point to several
women running things, one of them, BET chief
Debra Lee, believes " even on the programming
side there's a lot more that needs to be
done. " Women are lacking in C suites, she says.
On the operator side, the duo that was in charge at large cable distributors in
'09 remains unchanged: Nomi Bergman is Bright House Networks' President (the
#10 largest MSO) and Colleen Abdoulah heads WOW! (#15).
As we went to press last year, U.S. unemployment was nearing 10%. While
cable fared better than most, layoffs were a daily concern. That's changed only
slightly; layoffs remain a fear, unemployment hovers at 9%.
But there have been positives. WICT's membership has never been larger. BET's
Lee sees more leadership opportunities for women resulting from mergers of MSOs
with programmers; there's a big one pending now. The number of U.S. women with
six-fi gure incomes is rising at a much faster pace than it is for men, new census fi gures
show. Women now outnumber men at nearly every level of higher education.
We're also seeing better images of women in media. Yes, it's called Mad Men,
but AMC's hit was notable this season for its stories of women in a sexist era.
On premium cable, we've seen the addition of a strong if fl awed female character,
Showtime's excellent Nurse Jackie, played by Edie Falco. In a supporting
role, there's no stronger female than Mrs. Margaret Schroeder (Kelly Macdonald,
pictured above). She's the small but mighty widow who directly confronts her
fi nancial supporter, a powerful but crooked Prohibition-era politician, on HBO's
Boardwalk Empire. Ironically, direct confrontation was something Falco's former
character, Carmela Soprano, could never quite manage with her Tony. Here's
hoping more cable outlets directly confront the paucity of women in C suites.
* * *
Speaking of changes, this book has a few. We've expanded the list of women
in technology that we prepare with WICT (p. 34). Larger too is our alphabetized
list of infl uential women (p. 16). We
think you'll fi nd these are changes
for the better.
editorial director, ass't vp, cable group
Seth Arenstein
(301) 354-1782, sarenstein@accessintel.com
executive editor
Michael Grebb
(301) 354-1790, mgrebb@accessintel.com
managing editor
Jessica Clegg
(212) 621-4626, jclegg@accessintel.com
contributors
Seth Arenstein, Christine Champagne, Gerry Ford,
Bill Miltenberg, Daisy Whitney
advertising/business
senior vice president and group publisher
Diane Schwartz
(212) 621-4964, dschwartz@accessintel.com
cablefax group publisher
Debbie Vodenos
(301) 354-1695, dvodenos@accessintel.com
associate publisher
Amy Abbey
(301) 354-1629, aabbey@accessintel.com
design/production
Joanne Moran, jmoran@accessintel.com
senior production manager
Joann M. Fato
(301) 354-1681, jfato@accessintel.com
marketing & circulation
director of marketing communications
Amy Jefferies
(301) 354-1699, ajefferies@accessintel.com
director of marketing, media comm group
Carol Brault
(301) 354-1763, cbrault@accessintel.com
list sales
Worldata (561) 393-8200
Reprint Inquiries for CableFAX: The Magazine
please contact Lyndsay Bahn at:
lyndsay.bahn@theYGSgroup.com or (717) 666-3052
For additional copies, please contact:
clientservices@accessintel.com or 800-777-5006
ACCESS INTELLIGENCE, LLC
chief executive offi cer
Donald A. Pazour
exec. vp & chief fi nancial offi cer
Ed Pinedo
exec. vp, human resources & administration
Macy L. Fecto
divisional president, access intelligence
business media
Heather Farley
vp, production & manufacturing
Michael Kraus
svp, corporate audience development
Sylvia Sierra
svp & chief information offi cer
Robert Paciorek
vp fi nancial planning & internal audit
Steve Barber
sales and editorial offi ces
4 Choke Cherry Road, 2nd Floor
Rockville, MD 20850
(301) 354-2000; Fax (301) 738-8453
110 William Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10038
(212) 621-4900
www.cablefax.com
CableFax: The Magazine is published five times a year, May, July, September, November and December by Access Intelligence LLC, 4 Choke Cherry Road, 2nd Floor, Rockville, MD 20850-4024.
© 2010 Access Intelligence LLC. Contents may not be reproduced in any form without written permission. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
4
cablefaxmag.com
November 2010
CableFAX: The Magazine

http://www.cablefaxmag.com http://www.cablefax.com http://www.cablefaxmag.com

Cablefax The Magazine - November 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cablefax The Magazine - November 2010