Through the Wire

Contributors: Ted Hearn, Kent Gibbons, R. Thomas Umstead.

When D.C. Lobbyist Meetings Collide

Washington, D.C., is the smallest big city in America, sometimes bordering on claustrophobic.

The 35-member board of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association can attest to that after what happened last Wednesday at the Ritz-Carlton hotel on 22nd and M streets. The NCTA had to switch to the Ritz at the last minute because of an inhospitable construction program at the Park Hyatt.

As the NCTA board gathered in a conference room, cable officials noticed something peculiar: the board of the National Association of Broadcasters was meeting in the next room.

“We were literally next door,” a cable-industry lobbyist said. “We had no idea they were going to be there.”

That the two often-at-odds media camps were sharing the same fire led to some awkward moments. House Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) met with the NCTA board but not with the NAB people, according to cable and broadcasting lobbyists.

Republican FCC member Robert McDowell, sworn in June 1 and a new face to many, opted to meet with both boards.

McDowell, according to one individual, quipped that the taxpayers were grateful that he was able to save a couple of taxi fares while introducing himself to cable and broadcasting leaders.

Don’t Call Rocco Commisso During World Cup Matches

Here was Rocco Commisso’s plan for last Saturday, when the U.S. national team was playing the Italian national team in a FIFA World Cup match in Kaiserslautern, Germany. “I’m going to tape them and I’m going to watch them one at a time at night, as long as nobody calls me at my home and signals me as to what happens. Do not call me during the day and tell me about soccer!”

The Wire checked in with the Mediacom Communications Corp. chairman and CEO last Thursday, after Italy had won and the U.S. lost its first contest. Commisso was born in Italy, has lived in this country for five decades or so, and was adept enough at soccer to have earned a scholarship at Columbia University and tried out for the U.S. Olympic team ahead of the 1972 Games in Munich. (“I didn’t make it,” he said.)

His digital video recorder was set to burn the three World Cup matches Saturday and U.S. Open golf, too. “The DVR has become for the cable business, to me anyway, the most important technological advancement that’s been made in the last 10 years,” he said.

We couldn’t wrangle a prediction out of him about the U.S.A.-Italy match. OK, then, who was he rooting for?

“I want to see U.S.A. do very well. And I think if they do very well, probably both U.S.A. and Italy will make it into the second round. How’s that?”

Free Books! Get Your Free Books From CTAM!

Those of you headed for the CTAM Summit July 17 to 19 in Boston can do some home prep in advance, with a freebie courtesy of the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing.

The organization is giving away 800 copies of the business best-seller The Ultimate Question — Driving Good Profits and True Growth. The book’s author, Fred Reichheld, will participate in a session at the summit on July 19 at 2:30 p.m. The thinking is that those at the convention will get more out of the session, and ask better questions, if they read the book ahead of time.

The offer has been available for about two weeks, but we’re told there are still plenty of copies available. Go to the summit page on CTAM’s Web site (http://www.ctam.com/conferences/summit/), scroll down and click on the picture of this book and fill out the order form. Free shipping is included.

Another innovation for this year’s summit is a quiz at the site, created by software firm Cauldron Solutions that is designed to help attendees get the most out of the annual marketing meeting. The questionnaire at the summit page asks visitors to answer such questions as:

• Do you attend primarily to meet clients?

• Do you read ahead to prepare for the convention?

• What do you want to get out of the convention?

Based on a user’s answers, the application will suggest sessions and events to best meet the needs of the convention-bound exec.

Bovine Déjà Vu Strikes In Boston

Visitors to Boston next month, who also may have attended the National Show in Chicago in 1999, may be forgiven if they get the sense they’re seeing something familiar.

It’s the cows.

Just like the display in the Windy City that year, Boston will be dotted with fiberglass likenesses of the cud-chewers, decorated by local businesses and charities. After display this summer, the cow sculptures will be auctioned off to benefit the Jimmy Fund, which helps cancer sufferers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in town.

Maps to the cows are available at http://boston.cowparade.com.

Wrestling Fans Aren’t Extremely Pleased

Sci Fi Channel executives last week were beaming over a 2.7 household rating for the June 13 premiere of the summer series Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW).

But the pro wrestling skein, a World Wrestling Entertainment production, didn’t produce a similar knockout response from hard-core ECW fans. Several postings on wrestling site www.wrestlingobserver.com expressed discontent with such sci-fi adaptations as adding zombie and vampire characters into the storyline.

“This was one of the worst and most depressing hours of television I ever saw. If this is the vision for the 'New Breed, Unleashed,’ I hope it dies a quick death,” was one such post.

Sci Fi Channel president Bonnie Hammer called the show a work in progress and said Sci Fi will try to make it work for both wrestling and sci-fi fans. “We’re going to figure out how we can live up to what ECW’s supposed to be within the confines of what you can do appropriately on cable,” she said.