DORE'S WICT WAYS

It's not easy being the attraction after a pair of physiology-defying contortionists. Yet Bravo Networks president Kathleen Dore was up for the task at the Women In Cable and Telecommunications Forum in Denver last week.

Speaking at a Rainbow Media Holdings Inc.-sponsored luncheon that included a performance by two sequin-clad Cirque du Soleil body benders, Dore closed the session by telling the 400 attendees about her own maneuvering strategies for achieving and maintaining a leadership position in a male-dominated cable industry.

"As women, we have very few role models historically," she told the crowd. "So we tend to imitate men."

But not Dore. Unlike the male command-and-control method, Dore said she employs a technique she calls "force multiplier," a collaborative way to create a good team culture, gain subordinates' support through trust and a clear focus, therefore increasing the additive strength of the organization.

Having women in power positions is no trivial matter in a cable industry that reaches an audience that's 51 percent female. Dore noted that while women hold 41 percent of industry jobs, they only occupy 13 percent of the executive positions. Given that fact, "I say that an independent and collective female voice is vital to that discussion."

And that's not bending the truth.

WHAT DID HE SAY?

Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell is usually careful with his words, but his testimony last week before the Senate Commerce Committee — on the telecom sector meltdown, stock-option greed, boardroom lethargy and other relevant matters — could get him in deep water with his old man.

"I do believe the bottom line is oversight. I think that I continue to be amazed where the boards of directors are in the United States when, in these situations, judgments are being made about withdrawals and payments and compensation. I think they need also to be under the appropriate amount of scrutiny in their fiduciary responsibilities," Powell said.

None of the senators present, including Commerce Committee chairman Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.), who finished the week off with a cable-rates tirade his own staff didn't anticipate, or Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), had the presence of mind to ask whether Powell was referring to AOL Time Warner Inc.

Why be in that state of mind? The media giant is under a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation for certain accounting practices by AOL while its merger with Time Warner was pending — a tense period when former General and current Secretary of State Colin Powell served on the AOL board.

JUDGE IN THE WORKS

Watch your backs, judges Judy, Joe Brown, Mathis and fellow daytime TV justice-givers. Massillon Cable TV has developed a local show to rival syndicated fare like yours.

Get introduced to Massillon Municipal Court, airing several hours a week on the company's cable systems, covering 45,000 Ohio subs. It's so
popular that it's become the talk of townsfolk in grocery-store lines, Massillon president Bob Gessner told attendees at last week's National Cable Television Cooperative meeting in Orlando, Fla.

Gessner's theory about why the taped local reality show is so
popular: It appeals to his subscribers' voyeurism. "People in smaller communities love to know what their neighbors are up to, especially if it's bad," he said.

One parting thought: doesn't Gessner — based on all those trade mag interviews over the years, certainly more than most execs from small and midsized MSOs — look like someone ripe to preside over his own TV court? (Cable-distributed, of course.)

FLY LIKE AN EAGLE

Remember those thrilling days of yesteryear when some cable operators filled some of their channels by pointing a camera at something for 24 hours a day? Ergo: clocks for time checks, thermometers or scenery to illustrate weather conditions.

Whether you do or don't, check this out: The people at Michigan-based American Eagle Television are flying this bent into the 21st century — with a twist. They've inviting cable systems, broadcast stations or anyone in TV land to take their live feed of a bald eagle's nesting place in Wisconsin. Their nesting-season camera was switched on in March and will keep documenting what unfolds at that nest for another week or two. Set-up cost: under $1 million, according to American Eagle TV official Rick Vees.

Vees' organization is not the first to try this. One public-access cable channel in Massachusetts did so with a local nest a year or two back. Inspired, American Eagle TV went forward and has gotten some attention. Fox News Channel's Fox and Friends
morning newscast aired live eagle segments for a three-week stretch this spring. Meanwhile, ABC stations in Wausau and Rhinelander, Wis., and PBS affiliates in Milwaukee, Grand Rapids, Mich., and Pullman, Wis., all carry weekly images — and all have upped their commitment for 2003.

American Eagle people are discussing full and part-time coverage with several operators and will be at the National Show in Chicago next June, when the industry's main programming fest reconvenes.

"We're trying to wake cable people up to this," spokeswoman Judy Almeranti told The Wire. "It's content-rich educational viewing suitable for the entire family. When you have nature live, you have no idea what's going to happen next."

PARTING SHOT

After identifying G4 host Diane Mizota at the right of star Mike Myers in The Wire's Austin Powers in Goldmember
photo last week, it's only fair we give equal time to the woman on his left: former In Living Color
"fly girl" Carrie Ann Ibata, Here's the cable connection: Ibata and her fellow flyers entertained Western Show attendees at a Fox broadcast network reception about a decade ago.