Through the Wire
By Kent Gibbons -- Multichannel News, 12/14/2003 7:00:00 PM
Rock On, Jim, It's a Party Night
Could the Cablevision Systems Corp. president and CEO really be hosting two parties the same night? Why not — Manhattan's just a big old small town, after all.
A little after 6 p.m. last Wednesday, Jim Dolan was nowhere in evidence at a party for Variety editor in chief Peter Bart's book Dangerous Company at The Four Seasons restaurant's Grill Room. But Dolan wasn't really expected, even though he was a co-host (along with Variety publisher Charlie Koones, who's also executive vice president of Multichannel News's corporate division, and Miramax Books editor in chief Jonathan Burnham) of the event. After all, the boss and his garage band, JD & The Straight Shot, were performing at 7:30 at the B.B. King Blues Club & Grill on 42nd Street. It was splashed across the King club marquee, so the bandleader couldn't be late.
A respectable showing of media celebs nonetheless paid personal homage to Bart, who co-hosts a show on AMC called Sunday Morning Shootout: Dominick Dunne was at the bar early on, and flashes popped later when Leslie Stahl came in. Also on hand: publisher Mort Zuckerman, Norman Pearlstine and Woodward-and-Bernstein's Carl Bernstein. (We're told an earlier party for Bart, last Monday, in Los Angeles attracted Sting, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Sylvester Stallone. Different strokes for different coasts.)
The party at B.B. King's — a benefit that raised $1.1 million for the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research — drew the likes of New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon and Charles Dolan, Cablevision's chairman and JD's dad, along with hundreds of donors and well-wishers.
Across the country, in cable's traditional capital (Denver), the same night saw local Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing and NAMIC chapters throw what participants called a great holiday bash at the historic Grant-Humphreys Mansion.
And earlier Wednesday, at the New York Women in Film and Television's gala luncheon in the Hilton — where Sci Fi Channel president Bonnie Hammer was honored with a Muse award — a remarkable act of star replacement took place not once, but twice. Honoree Emma Thompson, grounded in London with a bad case of sinusitis, couldn't attend — but Meryl Streep filled in. When Muse recipient Whoopi Goldberg couldn't get there, Glenn Close filled in!
AMC's Dina White, a luncheon co-chair, said a highlight was Thompson's videotaped speech, in which the convalescing actress appeared in powder-blue PJs with little white clouds, clutching a yellow hot-water bottle. She amusingly focused on failures during her career, pointing out that "obviously I failed to be there today," White said.
Found Under the Tree
As for those Lustgarten Foundation secret Santas we mentioned last week, here's a few of their gifts: Playboy's Christie Hefner and Disney's Anne Sweeney swapped ears (mouse and bunny, natch). ESPN's George Bodenheimer gave Cox's Jim Robbins a free year of ESPN the Magazine, but after that he has to pay. Robbins said for Christmas he'd accept any rate structure ESPN wants – "then I'll come down your chimney and sprinkle presents all around your living room."
YES Network's Leo Hindery and JD exchanged books: Dolan got When You Say No But Really Mean Yes and Hindery got When You Say Yes But Really Mean No. DirecTV's Eddy Hartenstein gave cable back a subscriber, while cable CEOs Bill Schleyer (Adelphia), Brian Roberts (Comcast), Glenn Britt (Time Warner Cable) and Tom Rutledge (Cablevision's cable unit) were left questioning satellite-TV reception capabilities as Hartenstein's video message faded.
They're All Yahoos
Technology vendors need to catch major cable operators' ears wherever they might be found. Universal Remote Control Inc. president John Davis last week cornered a key cable executive on an Internet message board.
Davis had an exchange on Wednesday with Cablevision chief technology officer Wilt Hildenbrand, who frequently posts messages on a Yahoo! message board dedicated to talk about Cablevision's digital service. A hot topic has been Cablevision's plans to roll out set-tops containing digital video recorders, and Davis hopes Cablevision will use URC remotes with the DVRs.
On Wednesday, Davis posted a note to Hildenbrand: "I monitor the thread on Yahoo! to ensure our products are meeting Cablevision's and the subscribers' expectations. However, some of these people have too much time on their hands. I am amazed and also at the same time enlightened by their knowledge on some of the technology and their intelligence on the new products being introduced. Oh, by the way we happen to have a good DVR remote."
Hildenbrand's response to Davis was, "Some of them are good," along with the Web icon for a wink.
Davis told The Wire last week he intended Hildenbrand to be the only recipient of the message, but he accidentally e-mailed it to every member of the Yahoo! group.
Holiday Cheer
The Denver chapter of Cable Positive posted a final tally last week of the take from "Beach Blanket Broadband," the chapter's heartily sponsored musical revue and accompanying auction, held at the Cable Center on Nov. 13. The event raised a record $112,000 for Cable Positive and Rainbow House, a Denver-area facility which provides care for children with HIV and AIDS.
Dish Shopping
Not sure if it means much, but on the Web site shopping.com, the search term "direct tv" last week drew the biggest increase in queries over the previous week, up 864%. "Cable pigs" didn't make the top 10.
A Rocco Followup
After announcing at the Western Show that he would freeze basic rates if 80% of his programmers would do the same, Mediacom Communications Corp. chairman Rocco Commisso wasn't really expecting his phone to ring much with calls from networks. But last week at the Credit Suisse First Boston Media & Telecom Week in New York, Commisso said he actually did receive one call in answer to his freeze offer. But it was from a network Mediacom already was already getting for free.
By Kent Gibbons. Contributors: Steve Donohue, Linda Haugsted, David Levin, Mike Farrell.
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