Through the Wire

Spring break sprung last week in New York City, leaving cable and other media executives feted, educated, entertained and, at times, maybe touched emotionally.

Tuesday's “Wonder Women” luncheon, held annually by Multichannel News and the New York chapter of Women in Cable Telecommunications, was notable partly for a plethora of puns about invisible jets, bulletproof bracelets and form-fitting costumes that comes with an event named for a comic-book superhero. But one of the 10 honorees, Charter Communications Central Division president Mary White, stirred the nearly 1,000 people in attendance with more poignant fare.

First she told a self-effacing story about her point-guard days on the Northern Illinois University basketball team. During a second-half timeout against powerhouse Purdue, White said, her coach had a simple message for the team: “Mary, stop shooting.” So of course, she said, she went out and hoisted up a shot that went in — and had to run it off in practice the next day.

Later, the good-humored White stumbled twice trying to note her current battle with breast cancer. The second time, ESPN's Linda Cohn, who presented her award, came to her aid, as did those in attendance who stood and cheered in support.

Tuesday night's Cable Positive dinner — which drew 700-plus people supporting efforts to inform the public about the ongoing health crisis of HIV and AIDS — had many afterward remarking on the worthiness of MTV Networks' International vice chairman Bill Roedy's receipt of the Joel A. Berger Award.

The globe-traveling Roedy, who oversees more than 100 MTVN channels worldwide, was honored for his commitment to spreading the word about HIV-AIDS to at-risk youths around the world.

Once again — and for the last time as a signature fund-raising event, due to the new event-calendar consolidation — the dinner raised more than $1 million ($1.2 million, actually) for Cable Positive.

The WICT Leadership Conference, also in New York last week, drew more than 700 people, the most ever for that event, to hear keynote speaker Maya Angelou and many topical panels. And the Horowitz Associates multicultural-marketing breakfast on Tuesday attracted 275 people, also a big increase over 2007, organizers said.

Top executives from Comcast were less in evidence at the New York events last week than usual. The company had previously scheduled a senior-management conference in Phoenix to drill into business trends and hear from invited guests, a once-every-four-years event.

On Tuesday, the guests included Oprah Winfrey.

Winfrey and Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav were there to help pitch Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), which is what Discovery Health will become sometime in 2009 in a planned 50-50 joint venture between Discovery and Winfrey.

The visit came at an important time for Discovery: Zaslav's networks' deals are expiring at the top U.S. cable operator in a couple of months, according to people familiar with the situation.

And in the upside department, Winfrey's presence should help domestic networks' affiliate chief Bill Goodwyn achieve an improvement over what The Wire hears is an “insignificant” (possibly non-existant) license fee for Discovery Health.

Discovery said: “Comcast is an important and longstanding partner. We were honored to have Oprah and David present our vision for OWN to their senior management meeting.” No comment on affiliate terms, though, per company policy.

A marketing reorganization at Comcast led to the departure of two former senior vice presidents — including former Verizon Wireless marketer Marvin O. Davis — and the return to Comcast of former marketing communicator Eileen Diskin from PBS Kids Sprout, The Wire has learned.

Call us Slowskys, if you will, after those turtle-shelled Comcast ad-campaign stars Davis is credited with helping bring about. Davis, who was senior VP of sales and marketing, left to pursue other opportunities after his job functions were changed in a November shift. But Comcast doesn't always announce moves like these, so it took a while for The Wire to hear this one.

Page Murray, senior VP of marketing communication and support under Davis, also left after the reorg, Comcast confirmed last week.

The November shift put product marketing under Greg Butz, who heads up product development. His title expanded to senior VP of product development and general manager of media services, the latter being the marketing piece.

Meanwhile, former Comcast marketing exec Diskin returned to the mother ship in recent days. She's now VP of marketing communications and brand experience, Comcast confirmed.

Sprout is seeking a replacement for Diskin as VP of marketing, a network representative said.