Bob Miron’s Savvy Built A Monumental Enterprise

By K.C. Neel -- Multichannel News, 8/23/2010 12:01:00 AM

As a member of the Newhouse family — he is S.I. Newhouse’s nephew — Bob Miron was destined to work for Advance/Newhouse. But nepotism only got him in the door. His hard work and business savvy have resulted in several successful ventures in the cable industry over the years and earned him the respect of his co-workers and family members as well as his industry peers.

“The Newhouse family should build a monument to Bob,” said John Malone, chairman of Liberty Media. “He has made several very good business decisions that have made them a lot of money over the years.”

Indeed, the company’s investment in Discovery alone is worth about $6 billion based on recent trading prices. That’s not a bad return for an initial $500,000 investment agreed to with a handshake, according to Discovery Communications founder John Hendricks. (For more, see “The Great Discovery Channel Rescue Act”).

Miron worked at various Newhouse-owned newspapers during high school and college. His first broadcast gig came in 1958 when he went to work for WSYR AM-TV in Syracuse, N.Y. He moved around the country working at various Newhouse broadcast stations.

By 1964, Newhouse had decided to add cable systems to its stable of media properties, buying its first system in Anniston, Ala., and called the company NewChannels. Miron moved over to the cable side of the business in 1966, serving as operations manager in Syracuse. At the same time, he continued to work on the broadcast side of the business as an assistant to Joel Fleming, Newhouse Broadcasting president.

By then, NewChannels was purchasing cable systems with more regularity and, by the early 70s, the company owned franchises in several upstate New York communities. Additionally, as part of its 1964 acquisition of Oneonta Video, NewChannels had acquired Eastern Microwave. Another microwave acquisition expanded that part of the business and, by 1972, Eastern Microwave was delivering distant broadcast signals and Home Box Office to more than 150 cable systems in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio, Vermont and New Hampshire.

After HBO and other networks began transmitting via satellite, the business switched gears, eventually delivering signals for MCI Communications and serving as the backbone for the New York State Lottery. NewChannels sold the business in 1994.

Miron took the reins of NewChannels in 1974 and continued adding systems to the company’s stable of cable properties. The company forged a partnership with Henry Harris and four other former Cox executives in 1979, forming MetroVision. In 1981, New- Channels bought Vision Cable, which counted about 155,000 customers, for $180 million. All three companies — NewChannels, Metro- Vision and Vision Cable — were autonomously operated. Combined, they created the eighth largest cable system in the country.

By 1980, it was clear that something had to be done with NewChannels’ broadcasting properties. NewChannels had broadcast stations in markets where it also operated newspapers, and regulators were increasingly displeased with this set-up. While New- Channels had been able to fend off regulators up to then, Miron determined it would be best to divest its broadcast properties, and the company sold its five broadcast properties to Times Mirror in 1980 for $82 million.

By 1990, the three cable units counted a total 1.2 million customers in more than a dozen states. Miron knew NewChannels needed scale, a rationalized geographic footprint and the technological expertise necessary to launch new and complex services. He also knew his current cable operations couldn’t do it alone.

“While most of my brethren were selling out, we weren’t ready to get out of the business,” Miron said. “So we looked for partners for a couple of years and eventually we formed a joint venture with Time Warner.”

Time Warner Entertainment Advance/New house (TWEAN) was born in 1994. Newhouse contributed 1.4 million customers and Time Warner kicked in another 2.8 million. Time Warner had day-to-day management control, but Miron was actively involved in the decision-making process.

“Bob made the TWEAN partnership easy,” said Glenn Britt, Time Warner Cable’s CEO. “We talked almost every day and we still keep in close touch.”

The TWEAN partnership thrived, but eventually it was time to dismantle the joint venture.

“Time Warner had done its AOL partnership, and priorities changed,” Miron said. “And by that time, Steve [Miron, Bob’s son] and Nomi [Bergman, Miron’s daughter] had both matured and had worked in the industry for several years. It just made sense at that point to split up.”

In 2002, Steve Miron became president of Advance/Newhouse Partnership, and Nomi Bergman became executive vice president of strategy and development. The following year the split was complete with the formation of Bright House Networks.

Today, Bright House manages a Florida based cluster of TWEAN properties as well as other systems around the country serving a total 2.2 million customers. The TWEAN partnership still exists; Bright House has the benefi t of Time Warner’s programming and vendor discounts and takes advantage of the company’s vast technological expertise.

“Bob has done a great job of bringing along Steve and Nomi, and I am confident in their skills,” Donald Newhouse, president of Advance Publications Inc., said. “They don’t have the history or background yet that Bob does, and he will be missed. But I believe they will be good stewards of the company and take it to the next level.”

Steve Miron said of working with his father: “It’s been a lot of fun putting Bright House together and we all largely agree — but not always. Working with your family makes you work hard, and you always want to do your best. It’s been a pleasure working with my dad. I’ll miss him very much.”

Bergman added, “We really don’t know yet how different it will be [after Miron retires],” but noted she is confident the company is in good hands. “One of my favorite pieces of advice from my father was: ‘Life is not a dress rehearsal.’ I think he was trying to tell me to go for it.”