Full Channel's Hilda Donofrio Dies at 87

Hilda Viveiros Donofrio, 87, chairwoman of broadband provider Full Channel, Warren, R.I., died June 28.

Family-owned and run Full Channel provides TV, Internet and digital phone services to Warren, Barrington and Bristol, all Rhode Island.

Along with her late husband, John Donofrio, she was cofounder of the company and a pioneering cable operator in the state.

Full Channel was incorporated in 1965, when it got preliminary approval to build a system in East Providence, but it was not until the early 1980s that they were granted final approval and began operating in a handful of communities in Bristol County.

Viveiros Donofrio became chairwoman in 2004.

She is survived by three daughters, Linda Jane Maaia, Full Channel president and CEO; Rosemary Pacheco; and Valerie Daniels, as well as four grandsons.

“My mom was a strong lady,” said Linda Jane Maaia. “It didn’t matter the hurdles, from family, health to business, she tackled them all with quiet determination.”

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.