Through the Wire
by Kent Gibbons and Linda Haugsted -- Multichannel News, 10/19/2008 8:00:00 PM
Hall of Famer Uses TelePrompTer He Invented
Denver — The man responsible for the first TelePrompTer machine used one for the first time to read a speech in public at the 11th annual Cable Hall of Fame induction ceremonies here Thursday night.
Hubert “Hub” Schlafly, 89, was one of six cable executives inducted into the hall. He’s credited with helping to usher in nationwide transmission of television signals via satellite when he and Sidney Topol of Scientific Atlanta built an eight-meter transportable satellite receiver that was successfully demonstrated in 1973. Schlafly said in his remarks “without a doubt” that 1973 demonstration was his greatest contribution to cable.
Schlafly was also tasked in the 1950s with building a device to display an actor’s lines on a typewritten scroll of paper located near the TV camera. He did so, and he and Fred Barton (an actor who wanted help remembering his lines if he had a part on a daily TV drama) and Irving Kahn later founded the TelePrompTer Corp. Schlafly used one of the devices to deliver his acceptance speech.
The ceremony also honored George Bodenheimer, the president of ESPN & ABC Sports and co-chairman of Disney Media Networks, who started at ESPN in 1981, working in the mailroom; Richard Green, the first and only CEO of research consortium CableLabs; Raymond Joslin, the longtime Hearst Corp. executive who led Hearst (which teamed with ABC) into such cable programming investments as ESPN, A&E and Lifetime Television; Susan Packard, who co-founded Home & Garden Television and later was president of Scripps Networks New Ventures; and Insight Communications CEO Michael Willner.
Bodenheimer led off his speech with the words, “Tampa Bay 5, Boston 0, top of the seventh inning. … Hey, serving sports fans is what we do.”
Bodenheimer said an early memory at ESPN was of driving from town to town, meeting with cable-operator executives who inevitably would say, “This is a great sports town.” He quickly learned to reply: “I know — that’s why I’m here.”
Having the Hall of Fame event at the Colorado Convention Center gave attendees an opportunity to get acquainted with the venue, which will stage no fewer than four events in next October’s Cable Connections: the ACC Forum, the CTAM Summit, the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo and a CableLabs gathering. Whew. No wonder another hit tune from Positively Cable was called “525,600 Meetings.”
A night earlier, across town, Cable Positive’s Positively Cable annual musical revue sold out in advance and drew several first-time attendees to the 14-year-old event. It raised $134,305 for the HIV AIDS assistance organization, the third-most ever. Despite competition from the last televised presidential debate, the room was packed.
A core of professionals, from the troupe Rave Reviews, handled the main parts and local cable faces played supporting roles, performing numbers adapted from popular songs with new lyrics supplied by organizer Jane Shanley, Time Warner Cable’s Paul Braun and other volunteers. Themes included such cable-centric topics as Kevin Martin’s leased-access plans, user-generated content, the digital transition and selling cable porn (“It’s All Revenue To Me”). A bit more on-stage physical comedy provided extra laughs this time — during a strobe-lit sequence, Multichannel News columnist Leslie Ellis unleashed a well-timed “kick” to TWC exec Tom Feige’s groin and The Sportsman Channel’s Eric Claytor hefted independent producer Alex D’Addido over his head.
Unfortunately, the event held at the Cable Center here won’t be able to draft on synergy from Cable Connections: Fall, the grouping of events next Oct. 25-30 in Denver. Shanley put out a call for suggestions for next year’s version.
For more on the Hall of Fame ceremony, log on to www.multichannel.com.
CNN Finds Camera On eBay—Its Own
CNN became the subject of a story that surfaced last week. A staffer, surfing through offerings on eBay, saw a listing that looked familiar. The seller, dubbed Aliria, was selling camera equipment that matched a camera lens that went missing from a CNN crew as it traveled via Newark Liberty Airport recently.
The network contacted law enforcement officials, who posed as buyers and caught the alleged thief, Pythias Brown of Maplewood, N.J., a TSA screener at the airport. According to press reports, Brown was charged with one count of theft from a common carrier.
But evidence from Brown’s online seller profile, plus items seized from his house, indicate this was more than a one-time thing. He had at least 204 positive reviews from happy buyers of cameras, portable DVD players, MP3 players and other small electronics.
CNN’s proactivity benefitted across corporate boundaries and proved again that it is, indeed, a small world. According to press reports, a $47,000 camera belonging to Time Warner sibling HBO was also among the booty recovered.
MTV’s 'The Hills’ Spoofs Itself
Everyone else has done it, so it was just a matter of time before MTV took the opportunity to spoof its pop cultural phenomenon The Hills.
This weekend, MTV used its version, The Hills According to Me, to promote Season 4 of the semi-scripted reality show featuring Lauren Conrad, Heidi Montag, Spencer Pratt, Brody Jenner, etc. But the spoof certainly saved money on casting: all the characters were played by one person, improvisational comedian Derek Miller.
The spoof was commissioned from Best Company Ever, an L.A. based creative production company. They scripted and shot as many as 15 set-ups per each of the four half-hour episodes which ran Sunday, then edited them into the actual show, matching the footage to make it look as if it were part of the original show.
“We had to match the lighting, eye lines and frame the shots precisely or it wouldn’t work,” said writer-director Laura Murphy. That task was more difficult than it sounds, for the spoofers weren’t able to shoot in the original locations. The creators also parodied the recognizable titles from the show, as well as its theme song.
If you missed out on the joke, The Hills According to Me is available at http://bestcompanywebsite.com/BESTPR/.
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