CABLE INDUSTRY LEADERS TO BE HONORED AT THE NATIONAL SHOW

Willner and Mahony Top List of NCTA's 2004 Vanguard Honorees

Cable Industry Leaders will be Honored May 4 at The National Show

Washington, D.C. – Michael Willner, President & CEO, Insight Communications, and Sheila Mahony, Executive Vice President of Cablevision Systems Corporation, will be recognized with top 2004 Vanguard Awards for "Distinguished Leadership" in the cable industry. They head the list of 10 winners of 2004 Vanguard Awards, the cable industry's highest honor, announced today by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA).

The Vanguard Awards will be presented on Tuesday evening, May 4, at an awards ceremony and reception during The National Show, NCTA's 53rd Annual Convention & International Exposition, May 2-5 in New Orleans.

Inaugurated in 1965, the Vanguard Awards are presented annually to individuals who excel in both business and personal commitment to their colleagues, and whose accomplishments merit the recognition of the entire cable industry.

The Vanguard Awards will be presented by Robert Miron, Chair of the NCTA Vanguard Awards Committee, and Chairman & CEO of Advance/Newhouse Communications.

The complete list of 2004 Vanguard Award honorees, along with a description of their awards, follows.

Distinguished Leadership

Each year, two awards are presented, one to a man and one to a woman who consistently have demonstrated the highest level of cable industry leadership. This year's recipients are:

  • Michael Willner, President & Chief Executive Officer, Insight Communications. Willner will be honored not only for his role in building Insight Communications, a highly successful and innovative cable operator, but also for his leadership in numerous industry organizations. Willner, in 2003, completed two consecutive terms as chairman of the NCTA Board of Directors, and continues to serve on its Executive Committee. He also serves on the Executive Committee of CableLabs ®, the Board of Directors of C-SPAN, The Cable Center, and The Walter Kaitz Foundation, and on the board of trustees for Women in Cable & Telecommunications (WICT).
  • Sheila Mahony, Executive Vice President, Communications, Government & Public Affairs, Cablevision Systems Corporation. Mahony is being recognized for her outstanding leadership during her 24 years at Cablevision. Among her numerous accomplishments, Mahony has helped to develop the modern regulatory framework not only for Cablevision, but also for the industry at-large. In addition to overseeing all aspects of government and media efforts at Cablevision, she has also helped to establish the company as a community leader through its editorial and education initiatives. Mahony has served on the Board of Directors of C-SPAN and was a member of its Executive Committee. She is also immediate past Chair of the Board of the Cable Television & Telecommunications Association of New York.

Young Leadership

The growth of cable is in large part due to the energy, vitality and creativity of the many young people working within the industry. This award recognizes young individuals who already have made a mark on the industry and its constituents. This year's honoree is:

  • Dallas Clement, Senior Vice President, Strategy & Development, Cox Communications, Inc. Clement will be honored for his leadership within Cox for the launch of high-definition television (HDTV), Entertainment on Demand, Digital Video Recorder service and Voice over Internet Protocol service. He also has been a key participant in the NCTA/CEA "plug and play" negotiations; as well as CableLabs' OpenCable TM and CableHome TM projects.

Programmers

Cable is a strong competitor in the home entertainment business because of the creative contributions of its programming services. This award was created to recognize the innovation, leadership and individual achievement of NCTA's programmer members. This year's dual honorees will be:

  • Susan Swain, Executive Vice President & Co-Chief Operating Officer, C-SPAN.
  • Rob Kennedy, Executive Vice President & Co-Chief Operating Officer, C-SPAN.

With their unique shared roles and remarkable partnership at the helm of C-SPAN for the last nine years, Swain and Kennedy have expanded C-SPAN's contributions to America's public policy dialogue by launching C-SPAN3, C-SPAN radio, C-SPAN.org and ten other affiliated websites, optimized for broadband and featuring streaming coverage of Congressional hearings. They launched BookTV as well as the critically acclaimed and award-winning series American Presidents; American Writers; and Students & Leaders. This year marks C-SPAN's 25th anniversary.

Associates & Affiliates

This award recognizes the contributions of equipment manufacturers and service suppliers to cable industry growth and progress. This year's honoree will be:

  • Rouzbeh Yassini, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, YAS Broadband Ventures LLC. Dr. Yassini gained an international reputation as a broadband visionary for inventing the cable modem while founder and CEO of LANcity, and for establishing the cable modem industry standards (DOCSIS) through Cable Television Laboratories, SCTE and ITU. He has served as a senior executive consultant with CableLabs in charge of the DOCSIS, CableHome projects and as the cable industry's point person on standardizing the cable modem footprint globally. Earlier this year, Dr. Yassini released Planet Broadband, published by Cisco Press, offering a first-hand history of the cable modem and explanation of "what broadband is, why it matters, and how it will change your life."

Science & Technology

This award honors individuals who have played a major role in product improvement and design, and development of engineering techniques that benefit the industry. This year's honoree will be:

  • Robert Zitter, Executive Vice President, Technology Operations & Chief Technology Officer, Home Box Office. At HBO, Zitter is responsible for the company's technology interest worldwide, overseeing distribution, origination, production, operations and engineering. Zitter has been in the forefront working with the industry to bring about important technological developments such as scrambling, digital compression, multiplexing, HDTV, and subscription on demand.

Cable Operations Management

This award recognizes the efforts of cable's system managers, who work under intensely competitive conditions in today's dynamic telecommunications environment, and are key to the cable industry's success at the local level. This year's recipient will be:

  • Ann Montgomery, Regional Senior Vice President, Comcast Cable Communications, Inc. Montgomery is responsible for Comcast's Southwest Region, where she leads the company's cable operations for Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Southern California, representing over 1.4 million cable customers. Prior to joining Comcast in 2002, she held executive positions at Adelphia Communications Corporation, AT&T Broadband and its predecessor company, Tele-Communications, Inc. She has served on the WICT Foundation Board and volunteered widely for NCTA, WICT, and the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC).

Government & Community Relations

This award recognizes those who have had a major impact on promoting a positive public image and advocating public policy positions for the cable industry at the national, state and/or local levels. This year's honoree is:

  • Jennifer Mooney, Vice President, Public Affairs, Cincinnati Division, Time Warner Cable. Mooney oversees all public affairs functions and serves as a co-general manager for the Cincinnati Division, working closely with the corporate office on all strategic public affairs initiatives. Mooney's greatest passion is adult literacy. In the past 14 years, the "Time To Read" program has been implemented in more than 35 Greater Cincinnati locations affecting greater than 8,000 local citizens. The Cincinnati Division was the first Time Warner division to implement this program.

Marketing

This award honors an individual who has been instrumental in the development of marketing approaches that significantly enhance cable's public image and increase customers. This year's honoree will be:

  • Joseph Rooney, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Cox Communications, Inc. Rooney has overseen Cox's national marketing, sales, branding, product management, and research since 1999. He pioneered a key marketing strategy for the industry by offering customers a bundle of digital cable television, residential telephone service and high speed data over one cable line. He has volunteered extensively for CTAM and NCTA, serving as co-chair of the 2003 CTAM Summit in Seattle, and as an architect of the industry's "Only Cable Can" marketing campaign.

Attending the Award Ceremony

Reservations are needed for the Vanguard Awards and Reception at The National Show. For more information, contact Michelle Ray in NCTA Industry Affairs at 202/775-3669.

The event is open to the media at no cost, but reservations are mandatory. Reporters and editors may make reservations by contacting Elizabeth Ann Chandler at The Fratelli Group 202/822-9491 or [email protected], no later than April 30.

Additional, up-to-the-minute information for The National Show, including a convention schedule and registration materials, is available via the official web site
(www.thenationalshow.com) or from the NCTA Department of Industry Affairs (202/775-3669).

NCTA is the principal trade association of the cable television industry in the United States. NCTA represents cable operators serving more than 90 percent of the nation's cable television households and more than 200 cable program networks, as well as equipment suppliers and providers of other services to the cable industry.