Britt and McGrath Top List of NCTA's 2006 Vanguard Honorees

Britt and McGrath Top List of NCTA's 2006 Vanguard Honorees

Cable Industry Leaders Will be Honored April 10th at The National Show

WASHINGTON, March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Glenn A. Britt, President & CEO, Time Warner Cable, and Judy McGrath, Chairman & CEO, MTV Networks, are the 2006 recipients of the cable industry's top honor, the 2006 Vanguard Award for "Distinguished Leadership," the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) announced today. Britt and McGrath head the list of nine Vanguard Award winners who will be recognized for their outstanding contributions to the cable industry.

The 2006 Vanguard Awards will be presented on Monday, April 10, at an evening awards ceremony and reception during The 2006 National Show, NCTA's 55th Annual Convention & International Exposition, April 9-11 in Atlanta.

Inaugurated in 1965, the Vanguard Awards are presented annually to individuals who excel in both business and personal commitment to their colleagues, and whose accomplishments merit the recognition of the entire cable industry. The Vanguard Awards will be presented by Michael Willner, Chair of the NCTA Vanguard Awards Committee, and President & CEO of Insight Communications.

A complete list of 2006 Vanguard Award honorees, along with a description of awards, follows.

Distinguished Leadership

Each year, two awards are presented, one to a man and one to a woman, who consistently have demonstrated the highest level of cable industry leadership. This year's recipients are:

Glenn A. Britt, President & CEO, Time Warner Cable. Britt has been CEO of Time Warner Cable, the nation's second largest cable operator, since 2001 -- and has been involved in the cable industry since 1974. A strong leader both for his company and for industry-wide interests, Britt is a former Chairman of NCTA and the Walter Kaitz Foundation. Currently Chairman of the CableLabs Board of Directors, Britt has been a major advocate of the Open Cable Applications Platform. Britt has been recognized by many of the cable industry's interest groups for his leadership, including receiving the 2005 Stanley B. Thomas Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC); being honored as a 2005 Kaitz Foundation Diversity Champion; and receiving the 2004 Presidents Award from the Cable Television Public Affairs Association (CTPAA).

Judy McGrath, Chairman & CEO, MTV Networks. Under McGrath's direction, MTV Networks has grown from a maverick cable channel to a maverick global brand. From the beginning, Ms. McGrath has helped MTV bring the creativity of music to television. She and her team have developed programs and events that have become cultural landmarks to young people everywhere. Under her creative leadership, MTV broke into political news coverage with its award-winning 1992 "Choose or Lose" political awareness campaign, and tackled the issue of tolerance around the world with "Free Your Mind." She is on the board of the New York City Ballet, the McCarton School, and Rock the Vote, and serves on the advisory board of LifeBeat.

Young Leadership

The growth of cable is in large part due to the energy, vitality and creativity of the many young people working within the industry, and The Young Leadership Award recognizes those individuals who already have made a mark on the industry and its constituents. This year's honoree is:

Kathryn Falk, Vice President of Public and Government Affairs, Cox Communications Northern Virginia. From 1997 until 2002, Falk served as president of the Virginia Cable Telecommunications Association (VCTA), where she pioneered the financial and image turnaround for VCTA, and was been an instrumental voice advocating for the interests of the Commonwealth's cable industry before the state legislature. During her time at VCTA, she created the Virginia Voter Education Project, and helped develop strong relationships with Virginia's Congressional delegation in Washington. After joining Cox Northern Virginia in 2002, Falk quickly established and solidified strong relations with the region's key elected officials. Falk is also the immediate past president of the Washington/Baltimore chapter of Women in Cable & Telecommunications.

Programmers

Cable's creative programming services make the industry a leader in the home entertainment business, and this award recognizes innovation, leadership and individual achievement of NCTA's programmer members. This year's honoree will be:

Henry Schleiff, Chairman & CEO, Courtroom Television Network (CourtTV). Under Schleiff's leadership, CourtTV has grown from 38 million subscribers to 85 million. Along the way, he successfully positioned the network as a pioneer in the investigative and forensic programming genre and the only network dedicated to covering America's criminal justice system. Schleiff serves on NCTA's Programmers Committee and is a vocal leader for the industry on the importance of free speech and camera access to the Courts. Schleiff has received numerous awards for his commitment to public service, including the "Torch of Liberty Award" from the Anti-Defamation league, the "Outstanding Leadership Award" from Help USA, the "President's Award" from CTPAA, and the "Spirit of Liberty Award" from People for the American Way.

Associates & Affiliates

This award recognizes the important contributions of equipment manufacturers and service suppliers to cable industry innovation, growth and progress. This year's honoree will be:

Paul Glist, Esq., Cole, Raywid & Braverman, LLP. As legal consultant to NCTA, CableLabs, and major cable companies, Glist has skillfully navigated the cable industry through the complex legal, regulatory and strategic issues that fundamentally affect the industry. For more than five years, Glist has been a force behind cable's ongoing negotiations with the consumer electronics industry and has long been the point person on the myriad policy issues that face the cable industry, including representing cable effectively before the FCC and Congress.

Science & Technology

This award honors individuals who have played a significant role in product improvement, and design and development of engineering techniques. This year's honoree will be:

Mike LaJoie, Chief Technology Officer, Time Warner Cable. The entire cable industry has benefited from LaJoie's imagination and vision, especially during the creation of the Full Service Network (FSN). LaJoie embraced the digital vision with FSN and took a lead role in inventing the interactive services of FSN and created much of the hardware and software in conjunction with Time Warner's vendor partners, including Scientific-Atlanta, Silicon Graphics, and AT&T Network Systems (now Lucent Technologies). LaJoie's contributions continue as he plays an active role in the industry through his work with CableLabs, the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers, and as a member of the Next Generation Network Architecture Group.

Cable Operations Management

This award recognizes the efforts of cable's system managers, who work under intensely competitive conditions in today's dynamic telecommunications environment, and are critical to the cable industry's success at the local level. This year's recipient will be:

Eric P. Brown, Senior Vice President, Western Division Operations, Charter Communications. A cable industry veteran since 1992, prior to joining Charter in 2003, Brown served as President of the Minnesota Division of Time Warner Cable. Brown serves as a member of both the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of the California Cable & Telecommunications Association. With a deep commitment to mentoring, Brown serves on the Board of the NAMIC Foundation and was honored in 2005 by the WICT Southern California Chapter as an "Advocate Leader." Brown is credited widely with enhancing the profile of both Charter and the cable industry. Under Brown's leadership, Charter was presented with the City of Long Beach's 1st Annual Community Recognition Award for the "Enough is Enough" anti-gang programming marathon. Brown has also forged relationships with Habitat for Humanity, the Long Beach Symphony, Leadership Long Beach, the Arts Council for Long Beach, the Long Beach Visitor's Bureau, NAACP, Long Beach Jazz Festival, Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, American Red Cross, NCCJ and other organizations.

Government & Community Relations

This award recognizes those individuals who have had a significant impact on promoting a positive public image and advocating public policy positions for the cable industry at the national, state and/or local levels. This year's honoree is:

Alexander Netchvolodoff, Senior Vice President-Public Policy, Cox Enterprises, Inc. A former Chief of Staff to U.S. Senator John Danforth from 1976-1991, Nechvolodoff used his extensive legislative experience to become an extremely effective advocate for the cable industry. His deep substantive knowledge of the public policy issues facing the cable industry has been of indispensable importance in recent years, both in representation before the Congress and the FCC. Moreover, he has been a consensus builder within the industry, working with NCTA and other companies to help ensure a unified and effective stance in Washington.

Marketing

This award honors an individual who has been instrumental in the development of marketing approaches that significantly enhance cable's public image and increase customers. This year's honoree will be:

Dave Watson, Executive Vice President-Operations, Comcast Cable. As a member of the senior management team at Comcast since 1999, Watson is credited with applying his unique marketing vision and leadership skills to help transform the company into a world-class entertainment and communications provider. With Watson's guidance, Comcast has developed a series of innovative campaigns that break through the clutter to convey cable's value, including the "Comcastic" and "That was then. This is Comcast" campaigns. Watson chaired the 2005 CTAM Summit and is the 2006 CTAM Chairman.

Attending the Awards Ceremony

Reservations are needed for the Vanguard Awards and Reception at The National Show. For more information, contact Tobi Brown in NCTA Industry Affairs at 202/775-3669.

The event is open to the media at no cost, but reservations are mandatory. Reporters and editors may make reservations by contacting Licet Ariza at The Fratelli Group 202/822-9491 or lariza@fratelli.com no later than April 5.

Additional, up-to-the-minute information for The National Show, including a convention schedule and registration materials, is available via the Web site (www.thenationalshow.com) or from the NCTA Department of Industry Affairs (202/775-3669).

NCTA is the principal trade association for the cable industry, representing cable operators serving more than 90 percent of the nation's cable television households and more than 200 cable program networks. The cable industry is the nation's largest broadband provider of high-speed Internet access after investing $100 billion over ten years to build out a two-way interactive network with fiber optic technology.

Attention Photo Editors: To obtain photos of Glenn Britt and Judy McGrath, please contact Pam Ford at pford@ncta.com.

Source: National Cable & Telecommunications Association

CONTACT: Rob Stoddard or Brian Dietz of National Cable &
Telecommunications Association, +1-202-775-3629; or Eric Thomas of Fratelli
Group, +1-202-822-9491, for National Cable & Telecommunications Association

Web site: http://www.ncta.com/

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