The Cable Center said it has named Continental Cablevision founder Amos B. Hostetter Jr. as the 2016 recipient of the Bresnan Ethics in Business Award. The award honors the late William J. Bresnan, founder and chairman of Bresnan Communications and long-time chairman of the board of The Cable Center. Hostetter will received the award at the 19th annual Cable Hall of Fame celebration, May 16 at the Westin Boston Waterfront, in conjunction with the National Cable & Telecommunications Association’s (NCTA) Internet and Television Expo (INTX).
“I am honored to have been chosen for this year’s Bresnan Ethics in Business Award,” Hostetter said in a statement. “Bill was a respected colleague, and most importantly, a good friend, and it is a real privilege to receive this recognition in his memory.”
Hostetter currently serves as chairman of Pilot House Associates, LLC. He was the co-founder and former chairman and chief executive officer of Continental Cablevision, Inc.; and was also a former director of AT&T. Additionally, Hostetter is the chair emeritus of the board of trustees of WGBH and of Amherst College; chair of Global Post, LLC; and is a trustee of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the North Bennet Street School and Belmont Hill School.
He is best known as a pioneer and innovator in the industry – Continental was one of the first cable operators to introduce broadband – and his decision to leave the company he founded shortly after selling it to telco U.S. West in 1996. Less than a year later, after US West reneged on a promise to keep the Continental management team intact and in Boston, Hostetter and several of his top executives resigned.
“Amos has always been a role model for many of us in the cable television industry,” said Brian Lamb, executive chairman, C-SPAN, and chairman of the Bresnan Award selection committee. “In many ways ‘ethics’ could be his middle name.”
Hostetter also is a former board member and chairman of NCTA, and was a founding board member and former chairman of C-SPAN and Cable in the Classroom. He is also a former board member of the Corporation of Public Broadcasting (CPB), Children’s Television Workshop (CTW), the Nantucket Conservation Foundation and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation; and is a former member of the Vestry of Trinity Church, Boston.
Hostetter has received numerous awards and honors including the Harvard Business School Alumni Achievement Award; and induction into the Cable Hall of Fame and Broadcasting & Cable’s Hall of Fame for lifetime contribution to the communications industry.
“The Cable Center is pleased to recognize Amos with this year’s Bresnan Ethics in Business Award,” said Jana L. Henthorn, president and CEO. “He has consistently provided strong leadership and guidance throughout his years in the cable industry, and his dedication to philanthropy and ethics in business is truly admirable.”
The Bresnan Ethics in Business award was created to honor outstanding men and women in the cable industry who best exemplify Bill Bresnan’s longstanding commitment to ethics in business. Awardees represent the ideals upheld by Bill Bresnan, including continually demonstrating ethical leadership qualities, doing what’s right in the face of adversity, even when it is unpopular, incorporating doing what’s right in everyday life, and demonstrating societal, community and philanthropic engagement.
