Mediacom Communications said Tuesday that it has promoted Jon Coscia to SVP of Customer Service and Jack Griffin to SVP of Finance and Treasurer.

Coscia, who was formerly group VP of Customer Service,  will take full responsibility for customer care, including centers for sales, retention and field support and will report to EVP of Operations John Pascarelli.

“Since joining Mediacom, Jon has established himself as an industry expert in his field and introduced numerous groundbreaking, technology-driven solutions aimed at elevating the customer experience,” Pascarelli said in a press release. “I am confident his strategic insight and proven leadership of over 850 employees will further advance the quality of our customer care.” 

Griffin, previously group VP, Corporate Finance, will continue to oversee Mediacom’s corporate finance and treasury group, including debt financing, liability and cash management, banking relationships, investments, external reporting, mergers and acquisitions and business development. He will continue to report to Mediacom EVP and chief financial officer Mark Stephan.

“Jack has played an integral role in shaping the company’s financial profile over the past several years and achieving our much-coveted investment grade rating,” Stephan said in a press release. “His skillful stewardship of Mediacom’s balance sheet and the corporate finance and treasury group will benefit Mediacom for the many years to come.”

Both men joined Mediacom in 2007. 

“I am pleased to offer my heartfelt congratulations to both Jon and Jack. They have long been recognized as emerging leaders within our organization, and their promotions are well deserved,” Mediacom chairman and CEO Rocco Commisso said in a press release. 

Charter Communications said Thursday that it has promoted Satya Parimi to senior VP, product and strategy for Spectrum Enterprise, which provides enterprise grade internet, networking, voice, video and managed services to Charter’s largest business customers. He will report to Charter executive VP and Spectrum Enterprise president Bill Archer.

Parimi will lead strategy and accelerate the expansion and addition of product solutions and features, including managed network services, wireless connectivity and cybersecurity, for Spectrum Enterprise.

“Satya Parimi has been at the forefront of product development and growth within our company for over 15 years, and his expertise has helped us successfully develop and launch a broad portfolio of technology solutions to help clients meet their business objectives,” Archer said in a press release. “His forward-thinking strategy will further enable us to anticipate and quickly address our customers’ networking and connectivity needs as they continue to evolve.”

Parimi joined Charter in 2016 as group VP, enterprise data products for Spectrum Enterprise, following the Charter-Time Warner Cable merger and has led Spectrum Enterprise’s data products portfolio and managed all stages of the product life cycle. Prior to that he held several leadership roles in product development and strategy at Time Warner Cable, where he served as group VP, VP and senior director in business services, beginning in 2007. ■

Cox Communications kicked off the New Year by promoting three long-time executives — Len Barlik, Colleen Langner and Mark Lawson —  to key management roles, the company said Wednesday.

Barlik, formerly executive VP and chief operations officer, has been named chief technology officer, succeeding Kevin Hart, who was named CEO of Cox-owned fiber provider Segra earlier this week. Langner, who has previously served as EVP and chief marketing and sales officer, becomes chief operating officer; and Lawson, formerly senior VP of digital, moves into the executive VP and chief marketing and sales officer role. 

Barlik joined Cox in 2010 as EVP of product development and management and during that tenure helped launch the company’s flagship video product Contour, its ultra-high-speed broadband product Gigablast and its Homelife home security and automation portfolio. As CTO, Barlik will oversee product and technology innovation and the development of new products and services for both residential and commercial customers. He will also assume leadership of the Cox Network Transformation initiative, the company’s billion-dollar project to support future residential and business applications.  

“Len is a true innovator with a proven track record of bringing compelling new products and services to market that deliver superior customer experiences and drive revenue growth,” Cox Communications CEO Mark Greatrex said in a press release. “His ability to take a long-range, strategic vision, create a sense of urgency and move organizations to deliver on strategy makes him the natural choice to shape the future of product and technology development at Cox.”

A 26-year veteran of Cox Communications, Langner has held several senior leadership roles in the company, including SVP of field operations, with overall responsibility for field operations and vendor management. Langner also led marketing operations for the company, where she drove residential marketing strategy and execution nationwide. 

“Colleen built an intimate knowledge of our markets, our customers and what it takes to support the services we sell,” Greatrex said in the release. “Her leadership experience across our regions gives her great perspective and a well-rounded view of our business that serves our Senior Team well.”

Lawson joined Cox Communications about eight years ago, leading the company’s digital marketing and helping to digitize sales, customer care and, more recently, customer retention and base management. 

“We are moving rapidly to more digital customer journeys and interactive services and Mark is a top-notch digital expert who already has helped us blaze trails in the digital realm,” Greatrex said in the release. “He will be a tremendous asset to our senior leadership team, lending his digital vision and expertise to our growth and business strategy.”

Charter Communications said Tuesday that it has promoted Tony Guevara to senior VP, sales call centers. Guevara, who currently oversees the company’s inbound sales call centers for residential customers, will assume responsibility for its inbound sales call centers serving small and medium-sized business clients, as well as digital sales and outbound telemarketing. He will report to SVP Sales and Retention Christian Ruiz. 

“Tony is a visionary leader with a history of delivering strong results across multiple sales channels, including inbound sales, retention, customer service, door-to-door and outbound telesales,” Ruiz said in a press release. “Through this expanded role, we look forward to his experience and track record of innovation driving industry-leading performance across our entire sales call center organization.”

Guevara joined Charter in 2016 as group VP, retention, following the Charter–Time Warner Cable merger. In 2017, he began providing strategy, direction and leadership to Charter’s residential inbound call centers, helping to merge three different sales cultures, as well as driving consumer adoption of Charter’s wireless product, Spectrum Mobile, following its launch in 2018.

Guevara has more than 30 years of industry experience and began his career at Continental Cablevision before holding a series of leadership roles in customer retention and sales at Time Warner Cable. A U.S Army veteran, Guevara will continue to be based in Stamford, Connecticut.  ■

About a year after its parent company, Astound Broadband, was purchased by private equity firm Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners in a deal valued at $8.1 billion, RCN said it has made several management changes within its operating areas.

Astound has been on an acquisitions tear over the past few months, and the management changes are also intended to help with that expansion. In November it closed on its $661 million purchase of systems in Indiana, Illinois and Maryland from WideOpenWest. The Maryland portion of that deal — in Anne Arundel County — is expected to increase RCN’s Washington D.C. footprint by one-third.  In July, Astound’s Grande Communications unit said it would purchase central Texas-based broadband provider Harris Broadband for an undisclosed sum.

RCN said it hired former Comcast cable executive Doug Guthrie as senior VP and general manager of its New York system, replacing long-time New York market VP and GM Bruce Abbott, who announced his retirement. Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., senior VP and general manager Sanford Ames will add oversight of the Boston market to his duties, taking the reins from retiring Boston SVP and GM Jeff Carlson.

Guthrie has more than 34 years experience in the communications industry and will be responsible for residential and business customer operations, technical support, and developing and implementing marketing and sales strategies in RCNs New York market. Guthrie had been a SVP at Comcast Cable, where he worked for nearly 20 years and was one of the few executives to serve in all three of the cable giant’s operating divisions and its corporate headquarters.

Ames has been with RCN since 2011, and under his tenure, Lehigh Valley subscribers have increased by about 40%, the company said. 

Twenty-year RCN veteran and vice president of customer care Tori Faulkenberry has been promoted to senior VP of customer care, taking over for retiring customer care SVP Bill Sievers. She will spearhead customer service, training, performance management, sales, and operational efficiencies. In addition, RCN said Michael McPhillips has joined the company as VP of Business Solutions for RCN’s Central Region, taking the spot vacated by retiring exec Ted White.

Also retiring after long tenures with the company are VP of human resources Ken Conrad and VP of regulatory & public affairs Tom Steel.

“We are excited Doug and Michael are joining the RCN team and thrilled to elevate Sanford and Tori’s roles within the company,” said RCN chief operating officer Chris Fenger in a press release. “These colleagues are highly trusted and respected veterans in the industry and have successful track records in their fields.  Sanford, Tori, Doug and Michael are very accomplished individuals with extraordinary abilities to transform, inspire and drive positive change. Through their leadership and strategic insights, our company can expect to continue to deliver growth and innovation with an unwavering commitment to our customers. We also want to thank Bill, Jeff, Bruce, Ted, Ken and Tom for their dedication and hard work over the years. They have been instrumental in guiding our business in their respective areas for many years and we wish them a happy, healthy, and well-deserved retirement.” ■

Wireless subscriber growth has been off the charts over the past year, with second quarter increases nearing records as mobile service providers like AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile blanket the market with free offerings. But as subscriber numbers have surged, MoffettNathanson principal and senior analyst Craig Moffett wrote in a research report that those new customers are a volatile bunch, meaning the industry may soon have to decide whether to keep heavy promotions going just to maintain the status quo, or risk losing them by turning off the promotional spigot.

According to Moffett, the wireless industry has added about 8 million new customers in the past 12 months, 5 times the annual population growth rate. They’ve been able to do that via heavy promotions that offer free handsets and reduced charges for customers that take on an extra line, whether they need it or not. That has resulted in a big increase in promotional cap ex. As an example, Moffett pointed to AT&T, which added about 920,000 prepaid and postpaid wireless customers in Q2, its fastest customer growth in years, as balance sheet liabilities tied to promotions rose sharply to $4 billion in Q2 2021 compared to $2.5 billion in the same period in 2020. That leads to the question of whether AT&T will be able to pull back its promotional efforts once that growth begins to slow. Moffett doubts that AT&T, or any other provider, will be able to do so. 

“Cheap lines and free phones inevitably promote low quality phone net additions,” Moffett wrote. “To keep those lines from churning, or to replace them when they do, the companies now dependent on promotions to bolster growth will need them even more to maintain it.”

AT&T isn’t the only wireless service provider aggressively pricing its service. T-Mobile, Verizon and even cable companies have all slashed prices and are offering potential customers free handsets and other perks to boost subscriber rolls. Dish Network, which is scheduled to launch its first wireless market -- Las Vegas -- in Q4, is also expected to be aggressive on price and free offerings to attract customers.

Also Read: Eureka, AT&T Is a Phone Company Again

While cable has been aggressive on pricing, it has basically stayed away from the heavy promotions offered by incumbents, Moffett wrote. In the past, cable companies like Comcast, Charter and Altice USA have accounted for about 30% of overall new wireless subscriber additions, rising slightly to 31.9% in Q2. That, Moffett wrote, is still impressive considering cable companies only market wireless to their broadband customers (about half of U.S. households), and don't match the rich promotions of the incumbents.  

And though Verizon, which began matching AT&T’s aggressive promotions in June, said it would pull back those offers in late July, the company has indicated that it will be as promotional as needed to maintain parity, according to Moffett. 

In Q2, AT&T added 751,000 postpaid wireless customers, more than twice analysts consensus estimates of a gain of 352,000 subscribers. Verizon added about 275,000 postpaid customers in the period, besting consensus of 185,000 additions and T-Mobile added 627,000 postpaid subscribers, besting consensus of 598,000 additions.

Over the past four quarters, T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon have added 3.2 million, 2.9 million and 723,000 wireless subscribers respectively, while cable operators have seen their total additions rise about 55% to 6.5 million from 4.2 million in Q2 2020, according to Moffett. Overall, total phone subscriber additions peaked at 2.6% in Q2 2021.

According to Moffett, that overall phone subscriber growth will begin to slip in Q3 to 2.2%,  leveling off to 1.4% by 2025, still well ahead of 2021’s population growth of 0.34%. 

“The industry’s recent super-normal growth informs every industry metric. It has flattered every operator,” Moffett wrote. “...Strong subscriber growth has been a welcomed offset for what has otherwise been rather anemic growth for revenues and EBITDA, particularly for Verizon and AT&T,” Moffett wrote. “If, as we expect, industry subscriber growth normalizes, the backdrop won’t be nearly so flattering.”  

To promote the season premiere of Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City on Nov. 11, NBCUniversal and Cox Communications have teamed up to offer Cox Contour subscribers an interactive gaming experience based on the show.

The Real Housewives Arcade trivia gaming app launches Monday. Each week through Dec. 7 the app will feature new trivia questions for fans to answer.

The game will direct Cox subscribers to tune into the premiere of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City and point them to a library of VOD content on Cox Contour and Peacock TV.

Contour subscribers get Peacock Premium for free as part of a distribution deal between NBCU and Cox.

In a spot Cox is running to promote its voice-activated remote control, Real Housewife Heather Gay uses the device and explains to viewers how to open the trivia app just by saying “Real Housewives Arcade.”

“Interactivity is crucial to breaking through the clutter and enhancing our fan’s experience on partner platforms,” said Mac Budill, president, Content Distribution, NBCUniversal. “We’re grateful for Cox’s partnership in launching The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City to their customers and for highlighting our incredible library of The Real Housewives content.”

Cox is promoting the gaming app with full banner ads, a custom tile on its homepage and placing the game in the Featured Network, TV and App sections.

Ruckus Networks has announced the promotion of Bart Giordano to senior VP of worldwide sales.

Giordano has served as a sales executive for Ruckus since August 2015, through the purchase of the company by Brocade, as well was the subsequent acquisition of by current owner Arris.

Related: New Ruckus Networks Chief Plans to Stay the Course

He’s replacing Ian Whiting, who was promoted to the Ruckus president position in June, after the departure of Dan Rabinovitsj, who is now in a VP-level position at Facebook.

In Ruckus’ top sales job, Giordano will report to Whiting and oversee revenue, gross margin and all aspects of the company’s go-to-market activities.

“Since joining Ruckus Networks three years ago, Bart Giordano has built a top-notch global sales team,” said Whiting, in a statement. “Bart’s been responsible for growing revenue and market share through strategic partners and verticals, and his team has secured major design wins with Google, Facebook, IBM, and Lenovo. We look forward to the continued opportunities that Bart and his team will bring to our business and our partners.”

Arris credits Giordano with establishing the cloud services practice for Ruckus’ software-as-a-service portfolio. During the first half of 2018, Ruckus Cloud Wi-Fi has been one fo the company’s fastest growing products, expanding internationally.

“Moving ahead, I look forward to leading a world-class organization to sell our industry-leading products and services alongside our channel partners. We’ll continue our focus to expand core vertical segments and deliver solutions that result in positive business outcomes for our customers,’ Giordano added. 

Sony Corp. has debuted a new remote control for its PlayStation 4 console, one more adept at lean-back TV watching than game play.

And with the debut of the $30 Cloud Remote, Sony is offering a free 30-day trial of its virtual MVPD service, PlayStation Vue.

The new device pairs with the console via BlueTooth and can also control certain TV monitor functions including volume and power.

Related: PlayStation Vue Busts Out

The handheld device can be used in lieu of PS4’s native DualShock 4 controller, which is more fit for gaming. It will hit the market on September 19, available only at GameStop locations and on Amazon.

According to figures released by Strategy Analysts, PlayStation Vue ranges as the fourth biggest vMVPD, amassing around 745,000 subscribers since it debuted in 2015.

Among the major virtual pay TV services, Vue’s year-over-year growth of 59.4% is the second slowest next to market leader Sling TV, which expanded by only 25.9% from Q2 2017 to Q2 2018. 

Verizon on Wednesday confirmed that it will launch its fixed in-home 5G wireless service later this year using either free YouTube TV or an Apple TV4K as a promotional enticement.

The No. 1 U.S. wireless carrier also confirmed that it will launch in a fifth city, Indianapolis. Verizon earlier said that would launch the service in Houston, Los Angeles and Sacramento later this year.

Related: Verizon Picks Ericsson for Pre-Standard 5G Rollout

Users who sign up for the service will be able to choose between a free subscription—for a limited but unspecified time—to Google’s YouTube TV, which delivers more than 60 live channels for $40 a month, or the Apple TV4K, a streaming device that retails for a base price of $179.

It wasn’t in the announcement that Verizon sent out late Tuesday, but Bloomberg reported that Verizon 5G subscribers will also have access to live NFL and NBA games through the wireless company’s Oath media unit.

As for the decision to expand the rollout of the service to Indianapolis, Tami Erwin, executive VP of wireless operations for Verizon, said the city has been a “strong partner” in laying the groundwork for Verizon’s fixed 5G launch.

“We trialed 5G during the Indianapolis 500 in May 2017, and now we’re bringing next generation home broadband connectivity to residents,” Erwin said. “By becoming an early leader in 5G, Indianapolis will have a head start in seeing what this technology can do, using it to build an innovative city of the future.”

Verizon still has yet to announce pricing for its upcoming 5G service. 

Mediacom Communications said Tuesday it has promoted Barry Paden to senior vice president of programming, the first in a series of key promotions at the mid-sized cable operator.

In his new position, Paden, who had been group vice president of programming, will continue to negotiate programming and retransmission consent agreements on behalf of Mediacom. He will also focus on securing media rights for strategic multiplatform initiatives, including video-on-demand and out-of-home authenticated TV Everywhere content. Paden began his career in the cable industry in 1988 with Multivision Cable TV, and joined Mediacom as director of programming in 1999.

In addition, Mediacom said it promoted vice president of internal audit Louis Gentile to group vice president of internal audit, where he will take on a principal role in providing internal audit compliance and other field audit activities for the company. He began his career in the cable industry in 1989 as an internal auditor with Multivision Cable TV, and joined Mediacom in 1998 as business manager of the Gulf Coast Region.

Mediacom also upped Mary Green from senior director of internal audit to vice president of internal audit. In this role, she will oversee the Sarbanes Oxley related audits conducted by Mediacom as well as the operational audits the company performs at its 100+ business office locations throughout the country. She entered the cable industry in 1989 as a manager trainee with Tele-Communications, Inc., and joined Mediacom in 2005 as a senior manager of internal audit.

Joseph Michulski has been promoted from senior director of finance to vice president of finance and will continue to play a major role in administering the company’s 401(k) plan, overseeing medical benefit expenditures and purchasing corporate insurance among other responsibilities. Michulski began his career in the cable industry in 2000 as a financial analyst with Mediacom.

Debra Zullo has been promoted from senior director of IT to vice president of IT where she will lead the LINUX system engineering and Oracle database administrative teams. In this role, she will work with both internal and external groups on new system and data requirements as well as design, implementation, testing, validation and automation. Zullo began her career in the communications industry in 1994 with AT&T, and joined Mediacom in 2005 as senior manager of system engineering.

Heavy promotions at former Time Warner Cable systems were the main culprit in Charter Communications’ disappointing first quarter basic video customer losses, but chairman and CEO Tom Rutledge said the cable operator has “turned the corner” in terms of unit growth.

Charter lost a total of 100,000 residential basic video customers in the first quarter, well above what most analysts were expecting. Charter blamed most of those losses on heavy promotions at former Time Warner cable systems. Charter completed its purchase of Time Warner cable and Bright House Networks in May 2016.

At the MoffettNathanson Media & Communications Summit in New York Wednesday (May 17), Rutledge said that many of those TWC promotional bundles are coming to an end.

“Time Warner [Cable] wanted to make a video number,” Rutledge said at the conference. "There were data packages that were discounted that cost less if you took video than if you didn’t. A lot of them are churning out. A lot of them were basic-only. On the margin, in the last year, they were selling 40% of their connects basic-only.”

Rutledge said TWC had “90,000 different promotional offers” in the period leading up to the close of those deal. He said customers only needed to call into the system to receive a generous discount.

“It was a Turkish bazaar,” Rutledge said. “You’d call in, bargain, and they would invent a package.”

He said those deals were “exploding packages,” meaning they converted to full price after the promo period ended, leaving many customers reeling from sticker shock.

“We, up until recently, were unable to see that or intervene in that prior to it happening,” Rutledge said. “We’ve already turned the corner in terms of unit growth, and we are selling more on a year-over-year basis than we were within TWC and the whole company.”

You know it’s basketball season when a man in a gorilla suit starts appearing in promos for a sports network’s senior studio show.

Viewers to ESPN Deportes and its ESPN México sibling are being treated to two new “This is SportsCenter” spots featuring anchors Jorge Eduardo Sánchez, Ricardo Puig and Jorge Mercader … and “Go,” the iconic gorilla-suited mascot of the National Basketball Association’s Phoenix Suns.

The first spot, “Jungle,” opens with Sánchez explaining that ESPN offers the opportunity for its employees to decorate their own office space and give it a personal touch. The spot then cuts to Puig, who asks his colleague, “Go,” if he’d like to go to lunch, revealing his “jungle” cubicle while he jumps over the wall to head to lunch.

The second spot, “Go Bananas,” features Mercader searching for something to eat in the refrigerator and finally deciding on a banana. When he closes the fridge, he is surprised to find “Go” behind the door. A stare-down ensues, and Mercader is forced to relinquish his snack to the hungry gorilla.

Both commercials were created by ESPN International’s marketing team in Mexico and are an extension of the “This is SportsCenter” effort seen across ESPN’s English-language networks in the U.S.

The NBA-themed effort comes as ESPN Deportes bulks up its roster of soccer commentators by hiring Jorge Pérez-Navarro for “a variety of soccer events” on both ESPN Deportes and ESPN Deportes Radio, making regular appearances on the sports chat show Jorge Ramos y Su Banda.

Pérez-Navarro was formerly with Telemundo’s sports department and, prior to that, spent more than a decade as co-host for Univision’s sports 

Latino boys from across the U.S. will soon have the opportunity to convince a panel of judges that they’re the next Ricky Martin or Robi Draco Rosa.

On July 1, online entries will be available to talented (and likely visually appealing) Hispanic boys between 10 and 15 who will be given the chance to land one of five spots in the newest incarnation of Menudo.

Menudo rose to global fame in the early 1980s, making Martin and Rosa into heartthrobs in nearly every Spanish-speaking nation. In New York, their fame was so strong that an English-language single released in summer 1984, “If You’re Not Here (By My Side),” earned airplay on Top 40 giant Z100 despite the song’s failure to reach the national charts.

Martin is now one of the world’s most recognizable Latin male vocalists, while Rosa has enjoyed a highly successful career as a songwriter and performer with an impressive fan base in Puerto Rico.

Newly launched digital music entertainment discovery platform Showpitch.com is leading the quest for the five individuals who will ultimately be offered a slot in the new Menudo. The rules allow prospective contestants, boys age 10-15, to build their own “Talent Stage” microsite and upload a three-minute video that showcases their singing and dancing moves.

While the competition is open to any boy, regardless of ethnicity, the online registration page first asks to select Spanish or English as their preferred language — a hint that band members will be Hispanic. For legal reasons, the parent or legal guardian of the potential contestant must complete and submit the required forms on behalf of their child.

Once the online entry process is complete, their “Talent Stage” will then be shared with Showpitch.com’s Twitter and Facebook feeds, allowing fans to vote for their favorite would-be Menudo member. Of the total contestants, the 25 with the most social media votes will be selected following August 30 as finalists and flown to Miami, where they will perform before a panel of judges for the chance to become the newest Menudo member.

While nearly every component of the search will be conducted online and through social media, Telemundo Station Group is playing a key role in what’s being dubbed “Menudo — En Busca de la Nueva Generación.” Viewers will be able to “fully engage and join in this unique production” by visiting the local websites for Telemundo O&Os across the U.S., TSG senior vice president of sales Mike Chico said.

“The Telemundo Station Group has a robust digital offering that allows our viewers to connect and engage with our local stations while they are on the go to get the latest news and information they need or learn about exciting new offerings, such as this presentation,” Chico notes.

On the website for Miami Telemundo station WSCV,  a promotion video with Spanish narration appeared on the top left-hand side of the page and began playing.

While relaunching the iconic Menudo brand is noteworthy in and of itself, it is interesting to note that Telemundo is putting its muscle behind an initiative that won’t lead to TV programming for the Telemundo broadcast network, TeleXitos multicast network, or the NBC Universo cable platform — at least for now. That hasn’t deterred at least one sponsor, the Local Honda Dealer Association, from signing on.

Telemundo owns TV stations in Los Angeles, New York, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, San Antonio, San Francisco, Phoenix, Harlingen, Fresno, Denver, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Boston, Tucson and Puerto Rico.