BEST OF MULTICHANNEL.COM

‘Rock & Roll’ Bash Raises $1.7M for Cancer Research

NEW YORK — Last Tuesday’s annual Holiday Rock & Roll Bash in New York
raised a record amount exceeding $1.7 million to aid pancreatic cancer research,
the event backers said.

Cablevision, AMC Networks and The Madison Square Garden Co. said more
than 1,000 guests attended the Dec. 6 fundraising event at the Hard Rock
Cafe in Times Square. All funds raised go to the cancer-research cause via
The Lustgarten
Foundation.

As always,
Cablevision Systems
CEO James
Dolan’s rock ‘n’ roll
and blues band,
JD & The Straight
Shot, performed,
as did the Radio
City Rockettes.

Created in 2001,
the Holiday Rock &
Roll Bash has become
The Lustgarten
Foundation’s
premier annual event and its most important fundraiser. Since its inception,
the Holiday Rock & Roll Bash has raised more than $13 million to benefit pancreatic
cancer research. More information is available at curePC.org.

Former Cablevision vice chairman and Madison Square Garden chairman
Marc Lustgarten established The Lustgarten Foundation, along with Cablevision
chairman Charles Dolan and James Dolan, following Lustgarten’s diagnosis
of pancreatic cancer in 1998; Lustgarten died the following year. The
foundation has become the nation’s largest private foundation dedicated
solely to funding pancreatic cancer research, providing more than $38 million
to research since its inception.

Cox Consolidates Media Buying, Planning At MediaVest

ATLANTA — Cox Communications has tapped MediaVest as its media planning
and buying agency of record.

MediaVest will plan and buy all online and offline media for Cox for both
residential and business services, and will assist the MSO with planning on
owned media resources, such as cable-television advertising via Cox Media.
The decision was reached after a two-month review led by Cox’s marketing
and supply-chain teams and supported by Boston-based search firm Pile and
Co. Cox’s annual billings are reportedly between $75 million and $100 million.

Prior to the consolidation, Cox’s planning and buying process was regionalized,
with multiple approaches from headquarters and each field location.
MediaVest will serve as the single planning and buying agency, meeting the
needs of each region with a consistent, nationwide strategy.

Cox is also conducting a search for a single, national direct and digital
marketing agency. This evaluation process is also being managed by Pile and
Co., with negotiations again steered by Cox’s supply-chain organization. The
search is expected to conclude by early first-quarter 2012. Doner will remain
Cox’s brand agency.

Cox Promotes Rhonda Taylor to Chief People Officer

ATLANTA — Cox Louisiana humanresources
executive Rhonda Taylor
has been named chief people
officer at Cox Communications, effective
immediately. She succeeds
Mae Douglas, who recently announced
her retirement.

Douglas is leaving at the end of
the year and will assist in the transition.
Taylor, who also has been
named executive vice president,
reports to Cox president Patrick
Esser.

In her new role, Taylor oversees
talent development, labor relations,
diversity initiatives, rewards and
recognition, workforce analytics and
human-resource technology.
Taylor has served as the senior
human resources executive in Cox’s
Louisiana system since 2008. In that role she planned, led and implemented
numerous organizational changes and realignments, including the
consolidation of the Cox Greater Louisiana and New Orleans systems. Under
her leadership, the Cox Louisiana Diversity Council received the 2011 Human
Resources Management Association Commitment to Diversity Award.

ACA’s 2012 Summit Returns to D.C. in March

PITTSBURGH — The American Cable Association, based here, said next year’s
ACA Summit for independent cable operators will take place March 13-15 at
the Grand Hyatt in downtown Washington, D.C.

The group’s 19th annual conference will serve as a venue for smaller and
midsize operators to share their public policy concerns with officials in the
Obama administration, on Capitol Hill and inside the Federal Communications
Commission, according to the ACA. The trade group’s 2010 conference in
April was also held in Washington.

The theme for this year’s show is “Geared Up for Progress,” and the conference
will focus on issues including retransmission consent, broadband
deployment and access to content on “fair and reasonable” terms, the ACA
said. Sessions will cover regulatory and legislative issues, as well as lobbying
preparation; networking events; and an expanded exhibit hall for programmers,
technology vendors and service providers.

The ACA represents more than 900 small and midsized cable companies,
which collectively provide services for more than 7.6 million subscribers primarily
located in rural and smaller suburban markets across America.

History Launches Shopping App on FiOS TV

NEW YORK — History has teamed with Delivery Agent on a TV-commerce app
that has launched on Verizon Communications’ FiOS TV.

Termed “the first contextual commerce application accessible to network
programming viewers,” the History Shop app lets FiOS TV viewers use their
remote to buy merchandise related to and seen on series such as Pawn Stars,
American Pickers and Ice Road Truckers.

In a release, History said the app was built by Delivery Agent and tested in
Verizon’s labs
and in-home trials.
It taps into
Delivery Agent’s
proprietary database
of products
mapped
to television
content to present
the right
products at the
right time.

For example,
while watching
Pawn Stars,
customers can
use their FiOS
TV remote to click to purchase a wide range of brands and products including:
classic bikes from Schwinn, vintage-inspired consumer electronics from
Crosley, Civil War and presidential memorabilia from The Franklin Mint, and
the complete show season on DVD.

To access the new application, viewers watching History programming click
on the History icon that will appear on the TV screen. The application displays
shopping items for the customer to view and purchase on the right hand side
of the TV screen while the television program runs on the left. Viewers can
then use their remote control to purchase items and securely check out using
Delivery Agent’s TV Wallet transaction engine.

Viewers also can access the History Shop application through the FiOS TV
Application Storefront under the “Featured” and “Shopping” categories.

AMC Acquires Off-Net Rights to ‘CSI: Miami’

NEW YORK —- AMC said last Friday it has acquired off-network rights to CBS
drama series CSI: Miami.

The agreement — which covers the first 10 seasons of the CSI: Crime
Scene Investigation spinoff series, as well as seasons 11 and 12 if produced
— is the first off-network acquisition for the basic-cable network . The show
will premiere on Jan. 2 at 5 p.m. and will be stripped weeknightly at 5 p.m. on
AMC, which typically shows movies in primetime.

AMC will share the cable off-network rights to CSI: Miami with A&E Network,
which currently airs re-runs of the David Caruso starrer. A&E confi rmed the
two networks would share rights to the procedural. Terms were not disclosed.