Vest Leaving NCTA For Time Warner Inc.
Cable Industry Veteran Bolts for Key Lobbying Post
By Ted Hearn -- Multichannel News, 7/22/2008 4:45:00 PM
Washington—Steve Vest, senior vice president of government relations for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, is planning to leave the trade group to fill a top lobbying position at Time Warner Inc., informed sources said Tuesday.
Vest is departing NCTA to replace Gail MacKinnon, who is leaving Time Warner Inc. to become executive vice president and chief government relations officer of Time Warner Cable.
Time Warner Inc. and Time Warner Cable are splitting, requiring Time Warner Cable to build a new Washington D.C. lobbying team.
The $10.9 billion cable company spin-off still needs approval by the Federal Communications Commission under chairman Kevin Martin, who held up Time Warner Inc. and Comcast's takeover of Adelphia Communications for 404 days mostly over program access and carriage issues.
Time Warner Cable is the second-largest U.S. cable company with 13.3 million basic video subscribers. The company also has 7.9 million high-speed data and 3.1 million digital phone customers.
Vest, a former aide Rep. Thomas J. Manton (D-NY), rejoined NCTA in 2006 following a two-year absence. He replaced MacKinnon after she moved to Time Warner Inc. as senior vice president of global public policy.
